


Michelle's Home

by cookie_sheet_toboggan



Category: Full House (US), Fuller House, Gia Mahan - Fandom, Michelle Tanner - Fandom
Genre: Elizabeth Olsen as Michelle Tanner, F/F, Found Family, Lesbian Michelle Tanner, tiny island fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-04-21 09:08:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 36,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14281626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cookie_sheet_toboggan/pseuds/cookie_sheet_toboggan
Summary: Michelle Tanner goes home, finally ready to come out to her family during her sister's birthday weekend. Though, during her stay, she finds a strong connection with Stephanie's famously "bad influence" childhood friend, Gia Mahan.pssst... they gay





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just FYI I wrote Michelle as if Elizabeth Olsen was in her role.  
> You can imagine her as however you want, but damn Elizabeth as a lesbian tho... *heart eyes* just putting that out there

Michelle Tanner didn't come from a religious household, her family had always followed more progressive values, and most importantly, they always tried to show love in the face of adversity. Yet, despite all of this, the youngest sister of three, had always been terrified of letting her family know her full true self. She suspected that had been why she had been avoiding them for the past few years. She had told herself that it was because she was busy in New York, first in design school then later as she started up her own clothing line. She passed off this half-assed excuse onto her family, knowing that she was breaking their hearts, along with her own, by her actions.

Sitting in the back of a cab, Michelle watched the driver turn on to the all-so-familiar street that she had grown up on in San Francisco. The thirty-year-old had decided it'd been too long; holding onto this secret was weighing down on her too heavily. Her older sister Stephanie was celebrating her thirty-fifth birthday that weekend, which Michelle had made a commitment to herself that she'd use the event to tell her sisters, at some point during her visit, what she'd been hiding for a large portion of her life. Michelle knew that Stephanie's party wouldn't attract the whole family, making it a good occasion for Michelle's intended endeavour.

The taxi stopped in front of her childhood house, red door like a homing-beacon that gave her equal parts comfort as it did anxiety. She paid her driver, grabbed her luggage from the seat next to her, and walked up the path to the house. She stopped on the stoop, having a moment to take in a deep breath as a light breeze tussled her long dirty-blonde hair and blew at her green and pink patterned sundress, that was a part of her own design label. It felt silly to knock at the house that she'd whipped open the door to and ran inside on hundreds of occasions before, but she respected that she no longer lived there and banged on the door.

“It's always open!” She heard called from the other side.

Michelle, now a climatised New Yorker, shivered at the realisation that she grew up in a home with doors that were never locked. The young woman opened the door to the smiling faces of her two older sisters.

“Michelle!” DJ squealed as both her and Stephanie hurried to her and wrapped her in their arms.

Michelle chuckled as she awkwardly folded up her arms, that were being squeezed to her sides, and attempted to hug them back. In that moment she realised just how much she'd missed her sisters.

“Michelle!” Yelled Kimmy as she entered the room from the kitchen. She then ran at the trio to get in on the hug. “Ah, man. This is like old times. My three favourite blondies back together again.”

“Hey, Kimmy,” Michelle said dryly, yet still happy to see her. “I see this family hasn't lost it's touch for respecting personal space,” she said sarcastically to the women who were slowly crushing her.

“I haven't seen my baby sister in years. There is no such thing as personal space.” DJ tightened her embrace on her.

In that moment Michelle's heart sunk. The last time she saw her sisters was at DJ's husband's funeral. The young design student, at the time, was so into her own life on the other side of the country, that when she came back home for the death she wasn't emotionally there for her family, especially her oldest sister. She had made an appearance; running off as soon as she had felt that her obligations had been fulfilled. It wasn't that she didn't care, she was just young and so very emotionally unavailable to do anything beyond what she had at that time.

Michelle gasped, “Yeah, but baby sister can't breathe.” Her ribs were being crushed and was desperate for air.

“Alright, we'll back off,” Stephanie said as she disengaged before swatting off the other two.

“Okay, fine,” DJ stepped off only to take Michelle's hand and lead her to the sofa; pulling her down to sit beside her. “But you've been gone so long, young lady. You must fill us in on everything in your life.”

Stephanie and Kimmy followed, both deciding to sit on the coffee table itself, which was located in from of the sofa.

Her eldest sister continued. “So how's work? Are you successfully running your own fashion empire in the Big 'ol Apple? Oh!” She clapped her hands in excitement, “Do you have a cute boyfriend?”

“A supermodel boyfriend?” Kimmy tacked onto the question enthusiastically.

“Um,” Michelle blinked in response to the barrage of questions, deciding to take it slowly yet not ready to jump into the details of the last one. “Work is going well. No, I have not built, nor am I currently running, my own fashion empire. I don't know why you guys always come at me with that one. Although, my boss has given me an opportunity. I now have my own little line as a sister-label of her own design company, that is being sold in a few select stores that carry her line.”

“Oh, Michelle, that's great!” DJ hugged her once again.

“Funny, I always thought I'd be the successful clothing designer in this family,” Kimmy chimed in.

The Tanner sisters all turned towards the eccentric woman to glare her down sceptically.

“Anyway,” Stephanie turned back to Michelle. “The steamy model boyfriend?”

Michelle silently gulped. “Yeah,” she chose her words carefully, “I actually did date a supermodel for a bit there, but we broke up a while back.”

“Nice,” The middle sister said with what looked like only pride for her little sister. “I mean, not nice that you guys broke up, but nice that he was professionally good looking and you dated him... unless he was like a jerk or something, 'cause then that would be nice that you broke up with him.

Michelle, desperate to change the subject, “Anyway, enough about me, what's new with you guys?”

“Wait, no, no, no. I still have a lot more questions for you?” DJ pressed. “Besides, I've been posting non-stop on Facebook for years, covering our day-to-day lives. And I know you see my feed 'cause I see your little thumbs-up-likes, yet you don't have a single thing on your page except for an old family photo of us as your profile picture.”

“I've never been big into Facebook,” Michelle shrugged, hoping her comment would keep them at bay.

To Michelle's luck, the door swung open and in walked Jackson, Ramona, who Michelle recognised by her family's Facebook posts, and another girl with long dark hair that had a few teal streaks in it, who the youngest Tanner sister wasn't familiar with.

“Auntie Michelle,” Jackson caught sight of his long lost Aunt.

“Jackson,” Michelle got up to go to him. She always had found memories with DJ's eldest. Before she had moved away, she, as a young adult, would take little Jackson to baseball games. He never seemed to care much for the sport, but he sure loved all the activities at the games along with the over priced and over salted food. She hugged him and then pulled him back. “Wow, you sure grew since I saw you last. You're getting really handsome too,” she smiled at him.

He blushed, “Ah, thanks.”

“Wow, the Brady Bunch have multiplied and somehow gotten even more Hallmark made for TV movie cheese fest,” The strange girl said dryly.

Michelle looked to her in intrigue more than anything; scanning her up and down before turning back towards Jackson, “Is this life sized Monster High doll with the words of a burn poet, your friend?”

“Yeah, this is Rocki,” He gestured at the teen.

Michelle pointed to Rocki's black, knee high, buckled boots, “Those are killer boots.”

“Umm, Thanks,” the girl said sarcastically. “I mean, people don't really say things are killer anymore, but I get it. You're trying to connect with the youths.”

“No, I mean. Those boots killed.” Michelle began to explain, “When my friend Marcus showed the design to his conservative great uncle, who was a shoe maker back in Poland, he got really angry. He started ranting about how they were a drag-queens shoe, and how Marcus was doing the Devil's homosexual bidding, and then he collapsed and died of a heart attack right on the spot.”

“You know Marcus Mlynarz?” Rocki gasped.

“Wait, is that story true?” Ramona jumped in with intrigue.

“Yep,” The woman smiled. “Wait, just one sec,” she pulled out her phone and started scrolling. After a moment she flipped it towards the kids so they could see. “This is the two of us at his funeral, both wearing a pair of those boots. We had the shoes on rush to be made. It cost a lot, but it was worth it.”

“Cool,” Rocki looked to her. “Okay, you're not as Hallmark as you appear.”

Michelle smirked at her then looked to Ramona. “So, you're Kimmy's offspring.”

“Guilty”

“Well, nice to finally meet you,” She reached out and squeezed her arm.

“Yeah, likewise,” The teen smiled.

“As much as I'd love to not do homework, and stay here with your aunt that seems way too cool to be a part of this family,” Rocki looked to Jackson, “I don't want to go back to summer school, so can we go do this lame project?”

“Yeah,” Jackson agreed. “See you after?” He looked to Michelle.

“Of course.” She nodded. “We'll catch up later.”

He then quickly hugged her again before going up the stairs with the two girls.

Kimmy then got to her feet, “Okay, it's actually getting late in the day and we have a whole lot of stuff to set up for the party,”

Stephanie looked to her, “It's not till tomorrow evening.”

“Yeah, and we have to transform this place into a tropical island luau. I texted Gia to come over and help too.”

“Wait, Gia gave you her number, but she's blocked me?” DJ sounded offended.

“Gia?” Michelle asked. “Like Gia Mahan?”

“One and the Same.” DJ answered. “That little brat that just went upstairs with Jackson and Ramona is hers.”

Michelle let out a giggle. “That's amazing,” The young woman found great delight in seeing the resemblance in attitude alone.

“People,” Kimmy clapped, “Less chit-chat, more listening to your Gibbler Style party planner. Michelle, You're to go to the backdoor and bring in the party supplies that were delivered earlier,” She pointed to her, then moved her finger to the eldest sister, “DJ, you and I will get the stuff from the attic that I have already from another luau party I did last year.” She then turned to the middle sister, “and Stephanie, you are to stay here and clear furniture.”

“Alright, sounds great,” DJ pumped her firsts in excitement. “Michelle,” She called out as she bounded up the stairs with Kimmy, “you can put your luggage downstairs at any point, and help yourself to anything in the kitchen if you're hungry.”

Michelle gave her a thumbs up, “You got it, dude,” she said as a one time thing to humour them. Which it seemed to by their cheers of “Hey!” all said in unison.

The young woman grabbed her bag and walked in through the kitchen to place it at the top of the stairs, where she found the boxes of supplies almost completely blocking both the backdoor and the basement access.

Just as Michelle began moving the boxes out of the way of the door, in walked Max. He was wearing a silver sequin vest with a matching top hat. “Who's genius idea was it to put these boxes in front of the doorway?” He scrunched his face at the pile that Michelle was dragging away, so that he could squeeze by. His eyes then landed on her. “Hey, aren't you my auntie?”

“Michelle,” The woman smiled at him.

“I thought you died or something,” he said rudely, “Anyway, I'm assuming that you're responsible for this mess here,” He gestured at the party stuff.

“Yeah, I hopped a plane from New York to San Francisco and decided to drag six boxes of luau supplies with me and drop them right here, in front of the back door, so you couldn't get inside. It was all part of my mastermind plan to somewhat inconvenience you.”

“Fine, it probably wasn't you. It sounds more like a Kimmy Gibbler mess.” He threw his bag on the kitchen table and turned to her. “We let her stay here, and this is what we have to deal with.”

Michelle tilted her head, not believing the words that were coming out of her nephew's mouth. Unlike Rocki's benign Brady Bunch comment, this was laced with seeds of a much bigger issue. “Your grandfather is allowing you to stay here, and by just our brief encounter, I'd say the family is dealing with way more of your shit than the grown adult who is here helping your mother raise you and your brothers.”

“For one, you can't say the s-word around me, I'm a child. And two, I'm adorable, so you have to lay off 'cause you're coming in way too hot and I've had a stressful day at school.”

This response irked Michelle greatly as her thoughts fell onto too many men she'd met through her life with this similar outlook. “Listen, kid. You're already well on the path of the misogynistic entitled, white, straight, male who's destined to shoot up a school one day because a girl said no to him and called him out on his bullshit,” she put special care to emphasise the word 'shit'.

He looked at her stunned before slowly turning to the table, grabbing his knapsack and scurrying towards the back stairs, “You're not a very pleasant Auntie.” He blurted out before barrelling up the stairs.

“Wow, little Michelle Tanner has grown up to be a badass bitch who doesn’t take no shit,” a voice came from the kitchen door that led into the living room.

Michelle turned her head to see a stunning woman with chocolate coloured shoulder length hair and piercing blue eyes that were so vivid they could be spotted from halfway across the room, leaning up against the door frame. “Gia,” the blonde smiled while gently folding her arms over her stomach, as if she was subconsciously guarding herself from the other woman's beauty. “So,” she bit her bottom lip guiltily, “how much of that did you catch?”

“Enough to congratulate you on seeing that disaster in the making. Seriously, I see DJ let him get away with that crap while in the same breath chastising me for offering Stephanie a drag of my vape.”

“Oh no, not a vape,” Michelle gasped jokingly. “You might as well be offering her a line of crack cocaine.”

“They're pretty much exactly the same,” Gia smiled while pushing herself off from the wall, moving towards the other woman. “You were totally right about him though. Well, except for maybe the straight male thing.”

Michelle tilted her head, “Are you telling me that a straight man can't wear a sequin vest and top hat to school while appropriating a black woman's sassy attitude?” Her words dripped in sarcasm.

“Well, when you put it like that. What was I thinking?” Gia shook her head in a joking manner, stopping in front of her. “Damn, Little Michelle you're not so little anymore,” Gia said, looking up to the woman who had about three inches on her.

“I guess you will no longer have to crouch down to my height so that I man condescendingly pat you on the head.”

“You did that quite a few times.”

“Yeah, but I remember you always deserving it.”

Gia shrugged, “probably true.”

They locked eyes and smiled. After a moment Michelle awkwardly looked away, scared of how the other woman was making her feel. “Um,” the blonde began, “We should probably bring these boxes into the living room. I mean, assuming that you were sent in here to help me.” She said, eyes now locked on the supplies.

“Right,” Gia said.

Then came a light knock on the back door. Michelle peaked behind the boxes to see a little blonde girl, through the glass door, standing outside. The young woman moved to the door; opening it. “Hello, may I help you?” she asked in a friendly manner.

“Yes, I'm here to see my boyfriend, Max,” She smiled angelically. “He had a group presentation today and I wanted to check in on him and see how he's doing.”

“Oh,” Michelle forced a grin, processing the situation. “Well, alright,” she let the girl pass into the kitchen. “He just went upstairs.”

“Okay,” she made her way to the mentioned location. “Thank you.”

Michelle and Gia looked to each other. “Her boyfriend Max,” Gia repeated. “The plot thickens.”

Without thinking, Michelle responded, “Maybe not. I had a boyfriend at that age too, and now look at me.” Her eyes then widened to what she had just said. She was on such high alert, yet a couple minutes alone in a room with Gia, her guards went completely down, like she were chatting with her close friends back in New York.

“Ah” Gia said knowingly before she moved to grab a box, proceeding to turn around and walk into the living room. Michelle, not knowing what else to do, silently grabbed a box herself and followed after.

“Great,” Kimmy said as she saw them, while descending the stairs from the second floor, herself too with a box. “You guys can put those over there,” She pointed in front of the fireplace.

Stephanie, head in her phone, distracted from party set up, asked without taking her eyes off her screen. “Michelle, who's the model you dated? I want to look him up and see how hot he is.”

Michelle went bug-eyed as she lowered her box to the ground. “Um... they're not... ah, um,” she was struggling for words.

“Wow, Steph,” Gia jumped in, “You're digging into your little sister's exes for your own personal gain,” She smiled, “I'm proud of you. Younger you would have been all about respecting her feelings and privacy.”

DJ, who happened to be coming down the stairs, catching what Gia had said, pointed accusatory at her, “See, Stephanie. Even now she's still a bad influence on you.” DJ walked across the living room floor. “Why don't you just do your task that you were assigned and stop corrupting my sister?”

“DJ, chill” Stephanie looked to her older sister.

Gia simply stared DJ down as she silently walked through the kitchen door, Michelle quickly followed after.

Once the two women where in the kitchen, Gia let out a laugh, “Bugging your sister is like the highlight of my life.”

“Oh my God, Gia. Thank you,” Michelle let out a breath in relief.

“So, I take it by that encounter that your family doesn’t know.”

“Not yet, but I'm going to tell them.”

“So, you told them that you used to date a model?”

“It kind of slipped out.”

“Is it true?”

Michelle took a breath, nodding sadly as the memories overtook her, “Yeah, we dated for two years, until she decided to move back to London, where she's originally from, for a long term job opportunity,” Her eyes fell to the floor, finding a new found fixation on a broken tile. “We tried the whole long distance thing, but it didn't work out.”

She heard Gia sigh before saying in an understanding tone, “She broke your heart.”

Michelle's voice cracked. “Yeah, and the stupid thing was that I could have made an effort to relocate to where she was... but something stopped me from trying.”

“Damn, girls know just how to mess you up unlike anything else,” Gia added, “I once dated a girl for two week, she had me eating ice cream in bed for days after we broke up.” Michelle's head jerked up in hearing the other woman's dating history. “To put this into perspective, after I divorced my husband of a year and a half, I ate a half dozen cookies and then walked it off.”

Kimmy then popped her head into the kitchen, “Hurry up in here, won't you? There should be string lights shaped like little lanterns in one of those boxes that I need.” Then just as quickly as she had appeared, she'd disappeared back into the other room.

Gia smiled, “I like the way she bosses people around,” She pointed to where Kimmy had just been.

Michelle let out a laugh, eye's brimming with tears, as her body was letting out its excess emotions from their interrupted discussion. She wiped her eyes before grabbing another box. “Well, you heard the lady,” She nodded and headed back into the other room, where she heard Gia behind her doing the same thing.

“Oh, Gia,” Stephanie went over to her, taking the box out of her hand and setting it down for her. “Can we take your car and pick up the cupcakes? The bakery just called and said that they're ready.”

“Sure,” Gia shrugged.

“Great! The bakery is closing in about half an hour so we should leave now, then afterwards we can swing by my friend's place to pick up some audio equipment that he offered to lend us.”

Kimmy stepped in front of Michelle, already digging in her box before she had the opportunity to put it down. Michelle placed it on top of the box that Stephanie had placed on the floor, while Kimmy's body moved with it.

As Michelle watched Gia snatch her purse and black leather jacket off the ground, her mood fell; wanting to spend more time with the woman. She quietly sighed to herself, watching the two leave, but just before Gia walked out the door, she turned back and gave a smile and a wink directed at Michelle. The young woman's stomach fluttered in response towards the action, as she bit down on her bottom lip to conceal a grin.

Kimmy sprang up into her line of sight, “Why are you still standing here when there are more boxes to bring me?”

“Oh, Kimmy,” Michelle sighed, “I really have missed you,” She smirked while realising how much DJ's annoying childhood friend was actually a great comfort in her life. Michelle spun around to do as told, with her thoughts falling onto the woman who had just left her with butterflies in her stomach.

 

About an hour later Michelle was up a ladder at the back of the living room, stringing grass streamers from the bottom of the stair banister. The room was really coming together, they were nearly done with the decorations. Kimmy and DJ were diligently working so any conversations they had didn't deviate much from outside of their tasks at hand.

Suddenly the front door swung open with Stephanie and Gia; large white pastry boxes in hand, and just behind them was a man holding a soundboard in one hand and a speaker in the other. “Alan, you can set that stuff down over there,” Stephanie gestured to her friend, with her head, to the spot just outside the kitchen door. The birthday girl then looked around the room briefly, “Looking good in here, girls,” she praised them before pushing Gia into the kitchen to unload the cupcakes.

Alan abruptly left. Leaving Michelle to think that he was getting another load of equipment. The girls then came back into the room already in conversation.

“He's obviously into you, Gia. You should totally go on a date with him.”

“He is very cute,” Gia replied, nodding her head.

“Who's very cute?” Kimmy asked. “That hunk that just came in with the sound equipment?”

“Yes,” Stephanie filled her in, “I'm trying to set Gia up with Alan.”

Michelle had to look away, finding comfort in the fact that she had a task at hand, off to the back, that she could easily use as an excuse to disassociate from the conversation. She breathed heavily, suddenly overcome by nausea. She was so disappointed in herself, she actually thought that there might have been something there with Gia, back in the kitchen. She should have known. Gia was, well Gia. A flirt who probably didn't even think about Michelle the second she had left their house earlier that evening.

Alan then walked back in with another speaker and what looked like speaker stands. “Kay, Steph, this is the last of what's in my truck. You have the cables in Gia's car still. You think you'll be cool to set it up yourself? 'Cause I gotta bounce.”

Michelle looked over her shoulder to see Stephanie elbowing Gia while gesturing towards Alan, whoes back was turned as he was putting down his load. She then responded, “Yeah, It'll be no problem.”

He then started for the door as Gia called out, “Hey, Alan. You forgetting something?”

“Huh?” He looked around in confusion.

“My number,” She confidently walked up to him, reaching out her hand. “Your phone.” He practically dropped his mobile as he fumbled it out of his pocket in excitement, then handing it over to her after quickly unlocked it. She took it, but before she looked down to enter her number, she caught Michelle's gaze, which made the woman up the ladder quickly turn back around to play with her streamer.

“Cool,” She heard Alan say before leaving, door closing behind him.

“Was that my new daddy who just left?” Rocki asked humorously from the top of the stairs, as she moseyed her way down to her mom.

“We'll see,” She threw her arm around her daughter's shoulders. “He had a pretty nice truck. Maybe we've finally found our get-away driver for our dream mother/daughter crime team.”

“All our fantasies will finally come true,” She smirked at her mom. “Anyway, can we go home now? I'm so done with school work for like... forever.”

“Sure, but can you go grab the box that's on the back-seat of the car for me? It's for the party.”

“Yup,” The teen turned to leave.

Again, watching over her shoulder, Michelle couldn't help but smile at Rocki and Gia. They were very cute, which made her feel worse in a way. She didn't know Alan, but she knew that he probably didn't deserve them.

Michelle then tacked more of the streamer on before coming down the ladder to move it over in order to reach the next section. She heard the girls chatting behind her, but tuned out what they were saying. Just as she repositioned the ladder, ready to go back up, she felt a hand gently slide over her forearm, grasping it while hindering her from climbing. Michelle looked over to find Gia, right next to her. She didn't hear her approach with the sound of the scrapping ladder on the floor. The blonde stared at her dumbfounded, she was just so beautiful, and she smelled so good, and she was touching her. Michelle was at a loss of what to do or say.

“Here,” Gia handed Michelle a small piece of paper. The blonde slowly took a hold of it, as if it wasn't actually just offered to her. “If you need to talk,” Gia smiled while letting go of her arm, slowly backing away and turning around towards Rocki, who had just walked back into the room with the box of cables.

“Alright, Steph, we're off,” Gia said to her.

“Okay, thanks so much for the help,” Stephanie went over to hug her childhood friend. “We'll see you tomorrow at the party. Hopefully you'll have a cute date too,” She winked at her.

“Maybe.” Gia smiled before turning to leave after Rocki had disposed of the supplies in hand.

Michelle then looked to the paper that she was holding. She unfolded it to find Gia's name and phone number written on it. The woman smiled, maybe she wasn't completely wrong, maybe there was something there after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I'm pretty sure this is a fandom of one right now. If there is a single person out there who read this, OH MY GOD THANK YOU. and also, Please comment. You can say anything like... hey, maybe you are no longer in this fandom of one because it's now a fandom of two.... *crosses fingers that i catch a wlw to join me on my deserted island*


	2. Chapter 2

The transformation from the Tanner's ordinary living-room to tropical island luau was admirable. There were lantern string-lights strung from every which direction, fake hibiscus flowers on all the horizontal surfaces in sight, and the music was banging. Stephanie even managed to set up a few of their Uncle Jessie's stage lights around the room, to have colour variations cast around the space.

Michelle was leaning up against the tiki bar, about an hour into the party. She adorned a lacy white A-line dress that draped just above her knees, with flat silver gladiator sandals, and a purple flower over her ear that pushed back her hair that was down in loose beachy waves. She had a colourful lei around her neck, as did everyone else in the room; Kimmy was greeting people with them at the door.

“What can I do you for?” DJ asked Michelle from the other side of the bar. Her eldest sister volunteered to play mixologist.

“I definitely would like a piña colada in a pineapple, please.” Michelle had been excited to try one of the tropical drinks in a fruit, ever since that afternoon when she saw DJ prepping the pineapples for the bar.

“One, piña colada coming up!” She grabbed a hollowed out pineapple and poured in the premixed smoothie, followed by three shots of rum; stirring it with a spoon before popping in a pink straw and yellow mini umbrella.

Michelle loved the ridiculousness of the drink as DJ handed it to her. “Thanks,” she smiled like a giddy child as she slurped at the fruity beverage.

“Two beers please,” came a man's voice. Michelle looked to see Alan standing right beside her.

The woman almost rolled her eyes at his presence. Gia must have gotten her date with him after all.

Michelle had been contemplating texting the other woman the night before. She had put her number into her phone but had failed to come up with anything to say to her, so she said nothing.

“So, I guess you called Gia then,” DJ said to him as she grabbed his beers and screwed off their tops. “You unknowingly stepped into a bear trap with that one.” She then handed him his drinks.

“Yeah, I did,” Alan chuckled. “This other drink is for Steph actually. She was the one who invited me. Gia,” he smiled again but now shaking his head, “Yeah, Gia left me a number for an STI testing clinic. I was so confused 'cause she was like the one to offer me her number. I didn't even ask for it.”

Michelle exploded in laughter, choking on her drink in the process. Which made the man turn to her. “Well, I'm glad my epic blow-off brought on such a pretty girl's laughter,” he smiled at her. “I don't think we've met.” he extended his hand to her, “I'm Alan.”

She took it and gave it a good shake, “Michelle.”

DJ then jumped in, “Yes, this is my baby sister. Who happens to be totally single.”

Michelle then eyed DJ and turned back to him, “Nice to meet you. I have a whole yellow page's worth of clinic phone numbers I can give to you, if the one Gia gave you doesn't suffice.”

He chuckled, “You're funny,” he began walking away, “I'll catch you later, Michelle,” he lowered his head; eyeing her seductively before he turned to find Stephanie on the dance floor.

“Michelle,” DJ squealed, “He was totally flirting with you. And is it bad that I want you to steal him away from Gia?”

“I though Gia didn't want him?”

“I'm pretty sure Gia's MO is to confuse men into sleeping with her. Like he said, she was the one who gave him the number unprompted.”

“Oh,” Michelle said dishearteningly; thinking that Gia had done it to communicate to him that she wasn't interested. Though, what DJ had said did make sense. Why would Gia give him a number when he didn't ask for one if not to play some long game. Did Gia know Alan was invited to the party? There was a good chance that she did. It could have easily come up the day before while her and Stephanie were out picking up the sound equipment with him.

Michelle, now apprehensively chewing at her straw. turned away from the bar just at the precise moment Gia and Rocki had walked in, fashionably late, through the front door. The teen looked just as she had yesterday. Wearing the same boots, same black pants, with merely a different dark coloured shirt that finished off her ensemble. On the other hand, Gia had walked in wearing a tight strapless dark blue dress that hugged her curves all the way down to her mid thighs, where it had ended. She had black heels on and her hair was straightened and down. Michelle could feel her heart thumping in her chest, even over the pounding of the bass coming from the music in the room, when her sight had fallen onto her. Michelle's gaze tracked the woman while Kimmy greeted her with a yellow lei. Michelle then quickly turned back towards the bar, taking a long sip of her drink. The party guests had more-or-less filled up the room, there were probably already around forty people there; giving the woman an excuse to pretend that she didn't see the two enter. She didn't know what to do or say, so she had decided to stay put, back turned to the party, playing coward.

“I'd like a Long Island iced tea with an extra shot,” Michelle heard as Rocki approach the bar a moment later.

“Sure,” DJ said, “I'm just going to have to see some ID first,” She smiled condescendingly at her.

“Listen, bartender-lady,” Michelle jumped in, “I can vouch for her. We graduated college together. Class of Twenty-Ten.”

“Represent” Rocki then punched a fist in the air, “Go, football team!” she cheered.

DJ then side-eyed Michelle who met her with an innocent grin. She then focused back on Rocki, “How about a lemon Snapple?” She grabbed a glass bottle out of a cooler. Rocki merely sighed as she took the offered beverage.

“Sorry, kid. I tried,” Michelle said, “Though, I really thought you had her with the whole football thing.”

Rocki smirked at her which had made Michelle happy to see. For some reason the teen's approval had meant a lot to her. Rocki then moved towards the kitchen, probably looking for Jackson.

Suddenly her arm was being grabbed, “Come on Michelle,” Stephanie dragged her away where Michelle had to quickly abandoned her drink with DJ, “You can't stay at the bar all night like a party-pooper on my birthday. Come dance.” Her sister yanked her onto the dance floor.

Michelle welcomed the instruction to join in, and started dancing with the birthday girl, along with the other fifteen plus people on the floor. She then quickly noticed Gia dancing up against some guy that Michelle didn't know. However, It didn't take long for Gia to discover Michelle now on the dance floor. Gia, looking in her direction, smiled warmly then shouted at the blonde, “There you are!” She continued at that same volume; her voice carrying over the music as she moved over towards her. “I was thinking about you earlier.”

“You were?” Michelle blushed, while swaying to the music.

“Yeah, you never called me.”

Michelle smiled, “Yeah, I was afraid of unknowingly calling an STI clinic.”

Gia looked at her in confusion for a moment before she understood her reference and bust out in laughter. “You talked to Alan!”

Michelle laughed while asking “Why did you give him that number?”

Gia shrugged, “I had every intention to give him my real number,” She then gazed into Michelle's eyes, giving her a smirk, “until I changed my mind at the last second that is.” 

Just then the music faded into a slow song; people then started coupling up. “Um,” Michelle broke eye contact as she looked around the dance floor, then noticing Alan coming over to where her and Gia were standing. “Oh great,” She muttered under her breath.

Gia must have heard her because she turned around to see what she was looking at. Just as the man approached them, Gia stepping right in front of Michelle, taking her hand in hers and placing her other hand on her waist; pushing the blonde backwards and away from him, as she led her in dance.

Michelle quickly put her hand on Gia's shoulder to balance herself from the other woman's abrupt lead. Michelle giggled, “you could warn a girl before you push her backwards out of a surely awkward situation.”

“Time was of the essence!” Gia smiled as she spun Michelle, then firmly pulling her in back to her. Due to Gia's high heels, the two were now the same height making their eye lines meet perfectly, as Michelle bore her gaze into the other woman's beautiful sapphire eyes.

Michelle had briefly forgotten were she was, in a room surrounded by family who didn't know her secret, but it quickly came back to her where she abruptly broke eye contact and stiffened her body; looking around the room to see if anyone was paying any attention to them. She noticed Stephanie dancing with her boyfriend Jimmy next to them. Her sister even caught her eye and smiled at her, not seeming to think it odd that she was dancing with Gia. Michelle had to remind herself of all the times that she had been dancing with her actual girlfriend out in public, and people had often assumed they were just friends, so Michelle really had no reason to worry, yet she still did.

Gia must have picked up on Michelle's change in demeanour, for that she then asked her in a low voice, that only she would hear. “You haven't told them yet have you?” Michelle bit the inside of her lip and shook her head. It was now Gia's turn to look around the room before she focused back on Michelle, “Let's go.” Gia let go of her and walked towards the tiki bar where Michelle followed after her. “We need drinks.”

“I've got,” Michelle grabbed her pineapple off the bar.

“Very cute,” Gia smiled at her beverage. DJ was off on the dance floor with Steve, which wasn't going to stop the woman in blue. She casually went around the unmanned bar to grab herself a beer before gesturing with her head towards the kitchen as she opened the screw-top cap of her drink, and tossed it on the bar.

The two moved through the door and into the kitchen to find Ramona with Tommy playing connect-four against Max, at the table. Ramona had offered to baby-sit little Tommy and put him to bed while Stephanie's party was in session.

Gia proceeded to move towards the back door with Michelle in tow. In passing the blonde asked the kids, “Who's winning?”

Max huffed, “Tommy and Ramona are. But they're cheating.”

Michelle asked, “How are they cheating?”

“Combined, they've got fifteen years on me. If that's not cheating, I don't know what is,” his head slumped in his hand.

Ramona looked to him, “Then you don't know what cheating is, and I think you may need a math tutor,” she said before she got Tommy to drop a chip in the board.

As Michelle chuckled at them, Gia opened the back door and slipped out, grabbing Michelle by the arm to come along, leaving the three to their game. Michelle closed the door and was lead to the patio bench that sat against the outside wall, and under the roof's overhang. The brunette sat down and took a swig of her beer as the blonde lowered herself down next to her, tucking one leg beneath her.

“So,” Gia looked to her. “Did you chicken out?”

“No,” Michelle shook her head. “I don't know. There hasn't really been a good time to tell them. And honestly, I didn't want to do it today before the party. It's Stephanie's day, I shouldn’t detract from her.”

Gia side-eyed her, “You chickened out.”

Michelle sighed, “Maybe.”

“See, you should have called me. I would have kicked your butt over the phone to do it.”

“Tomorrow, I swear.” Michelle said with full intentions.

“I expect an update when you do.”

Michelle smiled, “I'll text you after I do it.”

“I'll be waiting,” She pointed firmly at her before taking another sip of her beer.

Michelle smirked before she tilted her head to the side, wanting to know more about the other woman. “So, tell me about yourself, Gia Mahan. It is still Mahan, right?”

“It is. I didn't take my ex-husbands name because I'd have a different name than Rocki's” Michelle smiled at Gia's dedication and love for her daughter. “Well,” Gia paused, “I'm a property appraiser.”

“Really?”

Gia laughed, “You sound shocked. Were you expecting drug dealer or perhaps exotic dancer?”

“Wow, people have told me that I kind of look like DJ, but this is just ridiculous.”

Gia cracked a smile, “You're definitely way prettier than her, but you do get that same shocked-face expression that she has on a lot of the time, which could throw a person for a loop.”

Michelle, fixating on the bit where Gia calling her pretty, blushed. “No, I'm not so much shocked at your totally normal job, but I guess it just wasn't what I was expecting either. Do you like it?”

“Are you kidding me, I get to go into a bunch of strangers homes and see how they live and they watch me nervously judge the value of their houses. It's amazing.”

Michelle giggled, “Okay, I get it now. Now my brain understands you in that job position.”

Gia smiled at her. “How about you? How's your whole fashion designer thing going in New York?”

“It's good.” Michelle simply answered.

“Why don't I believe you?” Gia furrowed her brow at her.

“No, it is. I have a label that's starting to take off. It's everything I've ever wanted.”

Gia tilted her head. “But?” She said as if she were waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Michelle sighed, “It's just.” She breathed through her nose, “Okay you know that sewing factory that collapsed in Bangladesh in 2013 that killed over a thousand people?”

“Yeah. It was all over the news.”

“Well the company that I'm partnered with had contracts that used that exact factory.”

“Damn,” Gia added.

“Yeah, but that's obviously not the only factory and the only sweatshop that wrongly takes advantage of poor people and makes them work in unsafe conditions, this is such a common occurrence in the industry. And because my clothing designs are currently with this specific company, they are being made by underpaid, overworked people in developing countries who are being exploited, and in a way I feel personally responsible.” Michelle huffed before taking a long sip of her drink.

“Can you leave the company?”

“I don't know. I guess. It'd just be career suicide if I did.”

“Why?”

“Because one of the stores my label just got into is Saks.”

“Shit, girl! Really?”

Michelle nodded her head, “As of last week my line’s been on their floor. I don't know my sales numbers yet, but this could make me as a designer if they're good.”

Gia shifted in her seat to face her better. “Do you want them to be good?”

Michelle looked her dead in the eyes before saying, “No.” She laughed and then repeated, “No.” She then grabbed Gia's arm, “Oh my god, Gia, I want them to fail.” This was the first time she'd realised just how much her current job situation was eating away at her. All her designer friends had told her that she was being overly sensitive, and to push her feelings to the side in regards to the dark side of their industry, because feeling bad wasn’t helping anyone anyway.

Suddenly the back door opened, “Oh, good. The twerps at the table weren’t lying when they said you were out here,” Rocki said as she closed the door behind her and came over to the two. “I need a break from the lame project that Jackson still hasn't finished for our class.” The teen sat down on the ground in front of them.

“You've been upstairs for like ten minutes,” Gia scrunched her face at her daughter.

“Which is ten minutes too long.”

“Understandable,” Gia shrugged, “You timed your break perfectly, Michelle just had a life altering epiphany.”

“Yeah?” Gia looked to the blonde with interest. “Care to share with the class?”

Michelle, without hesitation, filled her in, “I'm going to do something really stupid. If I get offered a long term contract with the company who is currently manufacturing and distributing my designs, I'm not going to sign it so I'll be free to find manufactures who actually follow humane labour practices.”

“Nice,” said Rocki, “You could partner up with small companies and work with them directly in other countries.

“Yes!” Michelle said excitingly. “Women business owners. And, and textiles! So many textile patterns are stolen from poor artists. We'd pay the people who design the materials.... and those who dyed them too. Every chain in the garment making process would be humane while simultaneously helping others, specificity women, in developing places.”

“Dude, do it,” Rocki said with enthusiasm. Which made Michelle smile.

“That's straight up passion, there,” Gia said, “You have to do it.”

Michelle's gleeful mood didn't last long before she said dishearteningly. “Yeah, I have to say, it's a lot easier said than done.”

“Okay, fine. You twisted my arm, I'll partner with you,” Rocki said. “It'll be a lot easier with the two of us.”

“Oh, yeah?” Michelle grinned at her. “We'll open a shop on the boardwalk and call it 'Rocki's and Michelle's' and sell ethical clothing across the board. Humane, vegan, and organic.”

“You guys should shorten it to 'Rocks and Shells',” Gia suggested. “It sounds more nature-y that way.”

Rocki nodded her head while Michelle said, “Yes, much better name.”

“Time for a celebratory drink,” Rocki said while looking to her mother.

“One sip,” she said while passing her daughter her beer.

Rocki took a swig and swallowed it with a face of disgust. Michelle giggled, “Why don't you try a sip of my drink.” Rocki gave her pineapple a disapproving look. “Don't judge this fruit bowl, he's got a higher alcohol content than that bitter beer.”

“Mom, this lady is trying to get me drunk.”

“And what do we do in situations such as these?” Gia asked.

“Oblige and thank them kindly before going into business with them,” Rocki leaned over, grabbed the pineapple with one hand to guide it towards her while it still remained in Michelle's grasp, and took a sip. “Okay, that's delicious.”

Gia chuckled at her as Michelle caught a glimpse of a design on Rocki's wrist. “Hey,” Michelle said, reaching out to gently take the teens hand. “What's this on your arm?” she looked more carefully at it.

“I don't know,” Rocki shrugged. “When I get bored I doodle.”

“This is really cool.”

“She's got notebooks full of that stuff,” Gia added.

“I want a picture of this,” Michelle nodded with excitement, and placing her drink on the ground.

“Why?” Rocki asked.

“'Cause that would make a killer textile.” Michelle looked about her. “Shit, my phone's inside.” Rocki then pulled hers out of her pocket. “Great,” Michelle smiled; taking it after the teen had unlocked it for her. Michelle took a few photos and then proceeded to text them to herself.

“So, now instead of stealing designs from underprivileged people in developing countries, you're stealing them from kids in America?” Rocki said jokingly as she took her phone back.

“It doesn’t weigh as heavily on my conscience when my victims are privileged enough to have running water.”

Gia chuckled, “That's the line for you, running water?”

“Mom, it's kind of fair. I mean, our line is people who tuck their pants into their socks.”

“What?” Michelle laughed in confusion.

“There's a story to this, It's not as arbitrary as it sounds,” Gia added.

Unfortunately, before the Mahan's had an opportunity to fill Michelle in on their inside joke, the door whipped open, then suddenly Kimmy was standing at the door. “We're about to sing happy birthday. All family must be present.” She then disappeared only to pop her head back out, “Also, it's about to rain,” she then yanked her head back in and was gone.

The three girls looked back to each other before slowly raising their eyes to the eavestrough that ran over their heads, which was now making clanging noises, due to the rain drops that had just begun to fall.

They looked back to one another as Michelle asked in shock, “How did she do that?”

“Fellow witch,” Rocki answered, as she stood up.

“We must bring her into our coven,” Gia nodded as she rose to her feet as well.

Michelle smirked and got up too before they all made their way back inside and into the living room. They arrived right behind DJ who was holding a tray of cupcakes that were speared with a dozen lit birthday candles.

The music died down just before DJ shouted, “Okay, everybody with me now!” And began to lead the room in Happy Birthday. Stephanie bounded to meet DJ in the middle of the room where the birthday girl blew out her candles as everyone cheered.

Michelle went up to Stephanie to give her a birthday hug, along with the rest of the family. Once all the embraces were over, Stephanie caught sight of Gia where she then blurted with excitement at her, “There you are! We're thinking of doing a Girl Talk performance. You in?”

“Oh my god, please guys do one,” Michelle bit her bottom lip and raised her hands in a plea.

“That's right,” Stephanie looked to her band-mates: Gia, DJ, and Kimmy, “Michelle hasn't seen a Girl Talk performance since she was a kid.”

“Yeah, let's do it,” Gia smiled. “For Michelle.”

“For Michelle!” Stephanie cheered. “Let's go set up.”

DJ then turned to Michelle, “You wait here. This is for you, baby sister.” The four women went off through the kitchen to grab the guitars, keyboard, and drum set from the basement.

Jackson turned to Rocki, “We should probably go help them.”

“Yeah, I've seen your mom try to carry half a drum kit all at once,” Rocki said, “The off-brand PG swears that came out of her mouth were hilarious as she struggled with it. But I see your concern.” The two teens then left to play roadies for their mothers.

Within ten minutes the band equipment was set up and the girls were taking their places on the dance floor, which had become their sage. Kimmy got behind her keyboard, Stephanie strapped her guitar on before fiddling with her headphone mic. Gia had her mic on already as she swung her bass over her shoulder, tuning it quickly. DJ went to sit at her drums which made Michelle giggle; she still thought it funny that her sister had learned how to drum from playing Rock Band with the kids.

Stephanie then addressed the crowd. “Hey, guys. How you enjoying my Thirty-Fifth birthday party?” The room cheered in response. “Glad to hear. So because it's my birthday, and I want to be the centre of attention, you're all going to have to hear me and my band play tonight.”

“Yeah, Girl Talk!” Some girl Michelle didn't recognised cheered from the crowd.

“Good response,” Stephanie pointed to the woman who cheered them. “So, we're going to start with a new song from our repertoire. Gia made us learn it.”

Gia jumped in, “It has a killer bass line that I wanted to play so I made everyone learn the song, because I'm that kind of bitch.” The crowd rumbled in laughter.

“It also has a killer guitar part, and I'm also that kind of bitch, so I was instantly onboard with it,” Stephanie and Gia high-fived. “Without any further ado, this is for my little sister, Michelle,” Stephanie pointed to her younger sister in the crowd, which made Michelle bounce on the balls of her feet in excitement.

“One! Two! Three!” DJ counted out while clacking her sticks together. Kimmy then started a beat on her tambourine, shortly Gia came in with her bass, which sent a shiver up Michelle's neck. It was such a visceral, guttural sound, and damn Gia looked mighty fine strumming out the vibrations that were coursing through her body. The brunette looked up from her guitar and stared directly into Michelle's eye's from afar, giving her a cheeky smirk just as DJ came in with the drums. Once Stephanie came in with a killer guitar line, their eye contact broke as Gia and Stephanie faced each other to jam out just before Stephanie began singing.

Michelle recognised the song, it was 'Are You Gonna Be My Girl' but Jet. Stephanie definitely had a different sound as she had sung the song, but it still sounded amazing. Michelle honestly wasn't expecting them to be so good, she was pleasantly surprised and very impressed. The woman bounced to the song and sang along in the crowd that surrounded her; making a little mosh pit. Every time Gia ended up playing her solo bass line, Michelle had felt like melting into a puddle on the floor. Damn she had it bad for her. Her chest physically hurt while watching Gia rock out on stage. On the last courses Gia looked directly at her when she sang along to the lyrics 'I said, are you gonna be my girl?' The crowd cheered as the song ended. Stephanie had gone quickly to high-five Gia before doing the same to Kimmy and DJ, which had broke the brunette's focus on Michelle.

Stephanie then looked out to Michelle, “So?” she shrugged as if to say, 'did you like it?”

Michelle giggled and ran over to her and gave her a barehug. “I feel like it's my birthday. That was so good. Like, stupid good.” Michelle beamed and looked to the rest of the band, still embracing her sister. “You guys were all amazing.” DJ and Kimmy went over to her and joined in on the hug. Just then Rocki approached her mom. Michelle couldn't hear what she had said to her but her daughter handed her mother her mobile phone. Gia read something on it. Whatever it was it made her look annoyed. She took off her bass and put it down on the stand behind her, then said something to Rocki who seemed almost distraught. Gia sighed before turning to the rest of the band.

“Hey, Steph, I'm so sorry but Rocki and I have to go.”

“Is everything alright?” Stephanie asked with concern.

“Yeah, no worries. Something just came up.”

“Well, okay, If you have to go, I understand.”

Gia hugged her, “Happy birthday again.”

“Thank you.” She smiled, “For everything. You really helped in making my birthday awesome.”

“Mom!” Rocki impatiently called out to her.

“Yeah, your welcome and sorry again.” Gia then caught Michelle's eye as she was turning to leave. Michelle must have had a face of concern on because Gia gestured with her head to the front door and mouthed 'outside' to her, before going to her daughter and moving towards the entrance.

Michelle hurried behind them as they walked out the front door and onto the pathway that bisected the yard. The rain had picked up, sufficiently drenching them at a fast rate. “What's going on?” Michelle asked, hoping everything was alright.

“My dad's a dick, that's what's going on,” Rocki said as she trotted to their car that was parked on the street in front of the house. She unlocking it, and sat in the passenger’s seat; shielding herself from the rain as she waited for her mom who had stayed behind with Michelle.

Gia turned to Michelle to explain, “Rocki's dad just randomly decided to drop by our house tonight, and now he's mad that we're not home.” The woman sighed in annoyance, “He does this sometimes. He doesn’t see Rocki for months then suddenly shows up, out of the blue, and wants us to drop our lives to service his whims.”

Michelle didn't know what to say. She just felt for Gia, and even more so for Rocki. That kid didn't deserve a father like that. “I'm sorry. That's so unfair to you guys,” was all she could think to say.

They then heard a honk coming from Rocki in the car, wanting her mom to hurry up.

“Gotta go,” Gia said, but before she had turned to leave, she first stepped to Michelle, giving her a soft, lingering kiss on her cheek. Wordlessly, she left to go to her car. Shortly her and Rocki were off, on their way home, driving through the rain.

Michelle put her hand to the spot that Gia had just kissed, closing her eyes as she allowed the heavy rain to envelope her in a watery cocoon; totally hypnotised by the other woman's affectionate touch that she'd left on both her cheek and her heart. Michelle Tanner way hopelessly captivated by the Mahans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, thank you to all of you guys who have joined me on this tropical island if tiny fandom! Specifically to those of you guys who kudos-ed and commented!! :D *jumps up and down* I'm no longer alone!!
> 
> We also have some super serious business to see to. *pulls out official looking file and opens it* We need a ship name! I was personally thinking, since Gia was always the rebellious one, and Michelle is a fashion designer, that their ship name could be like "Rebel by Design" or something??? idk please comment with your suggestions and thoughts!!


	3. Chapter 3

Regardless of the three hour time zone difference between San Francisco and New York, Michelle, because she was used to designing into the late hours of the night, was still sound asleep in bed when her two sisters and Kimmy had quietly sneaked downstairs to surprise her.

“Wake up, sleepy-head!” DJ chirped.

Michelle moaned before prying her eyes open to see the trio at the end of her bed. DJ and Kimmy were holding large trays and Stephanie had a pitcher of orange juice in her hand.

Stephanie crawled onto the bed and nudged at her little sister, with her free hand. “Man, I thought I could sleep in, but Michelle, this is ridiculous.”

“What are you talking about,” DJ called out Stephanie's hypocrisy, “I just woke you up like five minutes ago.”

Michelle chuckled as she slowly forced herself into a sitting position. Despite the fact that she had just woken up, she comprehended the exchange between her sisters.

Stephanie gave her older sister the evil-eye before turning to Michelle. “Since the last two days have pretty much been all about my party, we haven't gotten much sister bonding time in.”

“That's right!” cheered Kimmy as she sat at the edge of the bed, putting her tray, which was filled with food, on the spot in front of her.

“I guess I should rephrase that,” Stephanie corrected herself while putting the pitcher on Kimmy's tray, “Sister bonding time with an uninvited tag-along.”

Kimmy snapped, “Hey, I'm a sister of the she-wolf pack!” Michelle furrowed her brow in confusion towards the retort.

DJ then sat on the edge of the bed too, putting her tray down nearest to her youngest sister. “And I invited her. I needed the extra pair of hands to help bring all of this down here,” the eldest gestured to their breakfast. “Anyway,” DJ looked to Michelle, “We've got, vegan pancakes with strawberries, coconut milk whipped cream. and syrup on top.” She pointed out the corresponding dishes as she listed them, “And to drink, we have OJ and coffee, and I have both almond milk and soy milk because I didn't know what you took in your coffee,” DJ clapped enthusiastically.

“Wow,” Michelle was overwhelmed in gratitude at what her sister had prepared, and how courteous she was towards her dietary restrictions. “This looks amazing, DJ.”

“You've been gone for so long, I wanted to do something special to welcome you home,” The eldest Tanner sister leaned over to give Michelle a side hug, careful to not knock the tray nearest to them.

“I think DJ is trying to win you over with food so that you visit more often,” Stephanie smirked.

“You say that like it's a bad thing,” DJ smacked her on the arm.

“Not bad. Just not as effective as my tactics,” The middle sister flashed an impish grin.

Michelle reached to take a cup of coffee that was already poured into a mug. DJ quickly pointed to the one creamer dishe, “Soy,” her finger then moved to the other one, “almond.” Her attention then quickly went back to Stephanie, “And what tactics would those be?” Michelle proceeded to take the soy milk and poured some into her mug.

“Cute boys,” Stephanie said in a victorious manner. She dropped her smug look that was meant for DJ before she focused on Michelle. “Specifically, One cute boy in particular. Alan seemed to really like you. He asked if I could pass on his number to you.”

Michelle swallowed her beverage hard. “Oh,” was all the young woman could think to say.

“Sheez, Michelle, you don't look very thrilled that a nice hot guy is into you,” Kimmy pipped up.

Michelle signed, knowing that it was time. “Okay, I really have to tell you guys something.”

“Yeah, alright,” Stephanie responded in a bit of confusion.

Michelle then brought her knees up to her chin, as she hugged them to her chest; pushing her warm coffee mug into her calf. “I should have told you guys a long time ago.”

“Told us what?” DJ asked in concern. “Is everything alright? Are you alright”

“Yeah, no,” Michelle smiled nervously, “Everything is good. I'm good. It's not a bad thing, it's just--” Michelle closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, “I'm gay.” She then slowly opened her eyes to see the three faces staring at her.

DJ then quickly blurted out, as soon as Michelle looked to her. “Well, if you're gay then that's okay! Well not, Okay, it's great! I mean not great as in it's special, it's just normal, like straight is normal,” DJ bore a face of someone who wanted to eat her own words, “Ah...,”

“I think what DJ is trying to say,” Stephanie jumped in, “is that we support you and don't see you any differently for your orientation,” She reached over and put a loving hand on Michelle's knee.

“Yes! What she said,” DJ moved the tray that was between them, and crawled over to her baby sister, giving her a full hug. “We love you.” Michelle then wrapped one arm around her.

“Yeah!” Kimmy added, “I mean it's not like we fault you for liking girls, They are definitely nicer to kiss.”

“Yeah,” added Stephanie, “They're so soft and they are way more courteous. They don't just instantly try to jam their tongue down your throat.”

“Wait, what?” DJ turned to them, “You guys are saying this like you've kissed girls before.”

“Of course,” Kimmy said, “I mean, I only did it once during a game of spin the bottle, but I'd do it again if the time presented itself.”

“Yeah, and I kiss girls all the time when I'm drunk at bars,” Stephanie added, “highly recommend it.”

Michelle giggled as she turned her head to look at DJ's shocked expression, “All the time?” She then looked individually at the three of them before asking, “Am I the only one here who hasn't kissed a girl?”

“Apparently,” said Kimmy, “But don't worry, Deej, It seems that the time has presented itself again. I'll kiss you.”

Kimmy started to move towards her best friend where all three Tanner sisters yelled “No,” as they laughed and pushed her away to stay on her side of the bed.

Michelle's laughter soon turned into a cry. She was so overwhelmed by the acceptance that they had for her that she couldn't hold it in.

Stephanie must have noticed her teary eyes as she asked, “Hey, Michelle, are you okay?”

Michelle wiped her eyes with the back of her finger as she smiled, “Yeah. I'm great,” she nodded her head. “I love you guys.” Stephanie then hugged Michelle from the other side of where DJ was sitting. DJ, who had broke the embrace of her baby sister while fighting off Kimmy, had reestablished contact with her once again. Where Michelle gladly hugged them back.

“So,” Stephanie broke off as she grabbed a plate of pancakes. “I'm going to have to slightly adjust my tactics,” The woman started cutting into her food. “I'm going to need to find you a hot Californian girlfriend to entice you to visit more often,” she popped a fork-full in her mouth and chewed as she thought. “I know a few gay women back in London, which doesn't help us.”

“Oh,” DJ then let go of Michelle and said enthusiastically, “I have a black lab patient who has lesbian owners. And, I've got good in-tell that they recently broke up!”

“Umm, maybe no recently-broken up girlfriends that have a dog together,” Stephanie shut her idea down.

“No, Okay. That's fair,” DJ nodded in understanding as Michelle giggled at them. She'd never experienced this with her family. Them trying to set her up with another girl like it were completely normal.

Kimmy then shrugged, “Too bad Gia's not into girls.”

“Gia?” DJ scrunched her face in disgust, “Why would you mention her?”

Stephanie swallowed a mouthful of food before saying, “Hey, wait. Gia's totally bi!”

Michelle silently sipped at her coffee, not knowing what to say at the mention of her crush.

“You're not going to set her up with Gia,” DJ threw her hand to her hip, “She has a terrible record with dating. Every Saturday night she seems to have a completely new Tinder date waiting for her. And she's divorced, and who even knows who Rocki's dad is.”

Now Michelle felt very defensive on Gia's behalf. Just as she was about to jump in Stephanie beat her to it. “Gia is very loyal, she's just had bad luck in picking her partners. But once she's committed to someone, she sticks with them almost to a fault. The reason she got divorced was because her ex-husband started drinking to excess, and she didn't want Rocki exposed to that. And Rocki's dad was a jerk dude-bro senior in college who took advantage of Gia straight out of high school.”

DJ sunk her head. “Oh, well don't I just seem like a jerk?” she said in shame. “Sorry for being so hard on your friend, Steph.”

“It's okay. I know you're scepticism of her comes from a place of protection,” Stephanie gave her arm a squeeze.

Michelle, in hearing about Gia's history, almost cried. She so desperately wanted to show her the love that she deserved and be a positive force in her and Rocki's life.

“Well, this seems perfect then,” Kimmy smiled. “I mean we won't have to do much since Michelle and Gia are totally into each other already.”

“What?” Both DJ and Stephanie asked in unison as Michelle sheepishly hid half her face behind her coffee mug.

Michelle's sisters looked to her, where she must have been blushing because her cheeks felt hot. “Oh,” Stephanie smiled as she started putting two and two together. “Gia was asking quite a lot about you while we were going on our cupcake run the other day.”

“And at the party,” DJ jumped in, “You were asking about Gia and Alan, not because you liked Alan but because you liked Gia.”

Stephanie then took over, “You two were slow dancing together and then disappeared together.”

“Yeah, and lets not forget their flirty eyes during our Girl Talk performance,” Kimmy added.

It was too much for Michelle to handle, she had to hide her face in her knees. “Oh my god, stop,” she pleaded with them.

“Wow, you've got it bad,” Stephanie laughed as she nudged her.

Michelle looked up, still resting her head on her knees, as she turned it towards her middle sister. “I can't help it she's just so amazing and so pretty,” she then tucked her head back into herself and groaned in frustration of how Gia made her feel. “Can we please stop talking about this and just eat breakfast?” she popped her head back up as she asked.

“Okay,” DJ smiled, “bugging Michelle about her love life shall be put on hold for the moment being.”

“Thank you!” Michelle signed before putting her knees down and grabbing a plate of pancakes for herself.

“Wait, what about dad and the rest of the family?” Stephanie wondered, “They don't know you're gay, do they?”

“Not yet. I was hoping that you guys would be my backup when the time comes.”

“Yeah of course,” DJ said, “I know they'll be fine with it, but we’ve got your back for moral support.”

“Thanks,” Michelle smiled. “Though, do you guys mind telling the kids? I mean, if it comes up in conversation I'll let them know, but I feel really weird sitting them down to tell them.”

“Yeah, of course,” DJ reassured her.

“Cool,” Michelle let out a breath in relief before cutting into her food.

The rest of their breakfast bonding time was filled with catching Michelle up on their lives. Stephanie filled her in on her desire of wanting to have a baby and her and Jimmy's journey on hunting for a surrogate. DJ briefed her experience of picking which guy she wanted to date between Steve and Matt. Kimmy talked shortly about her complicated relationship with her ex-husband who was also Ramona's father, but really she was more excited to yap about her party planning business and her daughter's new dance team.

Eventually breakfast was over and the girls went their separate ways, leaving Michelle alone, still in her bed. The woman took out her phone, answering a few work related emails before she went to her texts. In a new conversation she sent, “Hey, It's Michelle. Just reporting in as promised that I told them,” to Gia's phone number.

After a few nervous minutes of no-reply she decided to busy herself by getting ready for the day. About half an hour later, just as she was finishing the french braid in her hair, she heard her phone's notification sound. Quickly, she tied an elastic to hold her knotted hair before checking her phone. “Did Jan and Marsha accept you with open arms as they gave you a Brady family hug?” Gia replied to her initial text message.

Michelle giggled before typing back, “lol Have you been talking to Rocki because you're stealing her material with The Brady Bunch references?”

Almost instantly Gia sent, “Please. She stole them from me! I had to youtube the show for her to understand my references.”

Gia then sent another text, “But really tho how did it go when you told them?”

“I guess you can call me Cindy Brady cause you were pretty much bang on with the acceptance and family hug thing.”

“:D I knew it!”

Michelle started texting, “This is why you are the coven leader, your foresight is all mighty.” but before she could hit 'send' she got another message from her.

“Sorry I gota go. Rocki needs me to pick her up. She was with her dad again this morning... guess they’re done already. Bastards probably bailing.”

Michelle sighed at reading her last message where she proceeded to delete her already typed out one. “OK and good luck,” She sent instead, not at all satisfied with the message that she chose. What she really wanted to tell Gia was, for her to punch him in the face on Michelle's behalf, but she knew that that would have probably not been appropriate.

“Thx bye”

The young woman sighed as she placed her phone on the vanity. She looked in the mirror where she took her pinky, using her nail, to separate some eyelashes that had clumped together with mascara.

“Auntie Michelle!” She then heard from the top of the stairs.

Michelle walked out of the bathroom already dressed for the day; wearing an emerald coloured tunic with white shorts. She looked to find Jackson standing by the door at the top of the stairs with his hands over his eyes.

Michelle smiled and responded, “Hey, you don't have to shield your gaze from me.”

Her nephew took his hand away from his face, “Oh, I didn't know if you were getting dressed or something.” He said sheepishly as he made his way down to her. “Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the aquarium with me today? Like you took me that one time when I was little.”

Michelle smiled, “When you begged me to buy you that cute yellow hat from the gift shop that said 'I didn't do it on Porpoise?”

“Hey, It haunts me to this day that that hat no longer fits me.”

The woman giggled, “Well I guess we better go and find you a new one that fits.”

“Yes!” He cheered. “Also, I hope you don't mind me picking your brain about girls while we're there. 'Cause I need some serious help and I finally have someone to ask who both likes girls and is a girl. It's like I won the dating advice lottery,” He nodded enthusiastically.

“So I take it your mom told you,” Michelle was only slightly surprised by her sister's promptness. DJ was always on top of everything, leaving nothing for later.

“Yeah, she told us about ten minutes ago when she grabbed our laundry.” Michelle was pleased to see her favourite nephew not only accepting of her, but exited by it. “Anyway, we should hurry if we want to catch the next bus to the aquarium. It comes in eight minutes.”

“We have all day, if we miss this bus we can always catch the next one,” She shrugged at him.

“No!” He blurted. “I mean,” He seemed to laugh nervously, “I want to get there before it gets too late in the day. Then we don't have to worry about crowds as much.” He abruptly turned around and barrelled up the stairs. “Come on!” He then disappeared out the door.

Michelle eyed the top of the stairs, where he had suspiciously vanished from, before she turned around to grab her purse the had a long handle that she could wear over her body. She then quickly shoving in sunscreen, her phone, and her wallet into it, along with a pair of sunglasses in their case.

Slipping her sandals on; she made her way upstairs to meet up with Jackson to leave for the bus stop.

About a half hour later, when the two reached the aquarium, Jackson had whipped out his phone; reading it for a moment before suggesting, “We should go to the tunnel first.” He shoved his mobile inside his back pocket.

“Because your phone told you so?” Michelle asked in confusion.

“Oh, that,” He laughed tensely, “I was just checking their mobile map. We live in a paperless world!”

“You are one strange kid, Jackson Fuller,” Michelle shook her head while throwing her arm around his shoulder, where she then gently knocked his head with her hand in a playful manner. He laughed before springing ahead of her for her to follow after.

They entered the large aquarium that was bisected by a long walking tunnel. Michelle always loved this particular spot as a kid. Her favourite thing was looking at all the sharks swimming above her head as they passed over the people. However, Jackson was just blasting through the tunnel until he abruptly stopped at the sight of two familiar faces, that were near the entrance from the other side of the aquarium passageway. There stood Rocki in a pair of dark grey jeans, black combat boots, and a deep purple shirt, and next to her was Gia who was wearing a wide printed white t-shirt that stopped just at the top of her high wasted yoga pants, which were black. She too was wearing a pair of black combat boots but hers were less clunky looking than her daughter's.

“Rocki!” Jackson threw up his arms, “What are the chances that we're both here and at the same place and at the same time too,” He moved his hands to his waist and forced an awkward laugh.

“Real subtle, man,” Rocki sighed before turning towards her stunned mother. “We're going to check out the otters. See ya later.” Before Gia could respond with anything, the two teens had run off.

Gia then turned to Michelle with a chuckle. “I should have known something was up when I picked Rocki up earlier and she suggested coming here. She hasn't wanted to come here for years. I just thought that her dad had put her in some sort of disarray or something so I just went along with it.”

“Yeah,” Michelle smirked, “After Jackson asked me to bring him here he literally dragged me to the bus stop so we'd get here as soon as possible. I even lost a shoe in the process and I honestly didn't think he was going to let me go back for it.” Gia laughed. “It was all very suspicious,” Michelle nodded.

“Well?” The brunette looked at her, head cocked to the side.

The blonde met her gaze, “Yes?” she responded in a similar manner before she bit her bottom lip.

Gia grinned as she stepped towards her, turning to face the same way as she slipped her arm around the other woman's, linking them before spinning them both in the opposite direction, leading her slowly down the tunnel that Jackson had just rushed her through. A shiver ran up Michelle's spine into the back of her neck at the other woman's touch.

They walked a little ways wordlessly before Gia broke the silence. “In high-school we had a field trip here,” she recalled. “At that time I had a little container of Vaseline in my bag. And somehow I had come to this realisation that if I took my eyeshadow brush and painted the Vaseline on the glass, it kind of looked like a crack.”

“Oh my god you didn't?” Michelle smiled with wide eyes as she had a strong suspicion of where the story was going.

“Yup, I did. I painted a long crack from one side of the tunnel and then up to the top of the arch and then back down. I had to go on my friend's shoulders to reach at the highest section.”

“Naturally,” Michelle nodded with a smirk.

“Yeah,” Gia smiled. “Anyway, my friends and I all yelled something to the notion of 'the glass is cracked the aquarium's going to break'.” Michelle bit back a laugh. “Man, you should have seen the people run. They were literally tripping over each other as they bolted for the exits,” Gia's eye lit up at the memory. “And that was the day I was banned from the aquarium.”

Michelle couldn't contain herself any long as she burst out into laughter, “You're banned from here?”

“Shh,” Gia moved in closer to her, “Let's keep this on the down-low. They could be listening,” She then looked around suspiciously at the people around them.

Michelle was vibrating as she kept her laughter as internalised as she possibly could. “Don't worry, I won't blow your cover,” She leaned in close as she spoke in a hushed tone.

Gia's face split into a grin, “I knew I could count on you.”

Michelle chucked before asking, “Why did I not know this story though? Was Stephanie not with you or something?”

“I think you guys were on a family vacation or something at the time. 'Cause if Stephanie was there there would be no way she'd allow me to do that. That girl has been like 89% of my impulse control over the years.”

Michelle giggled, “89% that's a very specific number.”

Gia nodded, “I'd say I did the math, but Stephanie always did about 89% of that for me too.”

Michelle threw her head up as she sighed, “Oh my god.”

They walking in silence again for a moment before Michelle decided to wordlessly move to lean up against the side of the tunnel, sitting on the small ledge that lined the walkway, to watch the great white shark swim above them. During the process the girls linked arms broke; separating them.

Michelle tracked the sharks movements as her heart grew heavy. She thought on all the times she'd come to this exact place as a kid. She'd been there with her sisters, her dad, her Uncles, her Aunt, and cousins. She had so many memories of not only this aquarium but of her family in general. She had almost cut ties with them after she had moved away, and it wasn't until that moment, staring at the aquatic life with that familiar musky scent of the building that they were in, that she'd realised the hole in her heart that she'd been baring for all those years. The emptiness of being homesick.

Gia must have noticed her sudden shift in mood as she sat down next to her and gently stated, “You look like you're baring the weight of this whole aquarium on your shoulders.”

Without lifting her gaze off the shark, Michelle blankly declared, “I'm leaving tomorrow.” Gia didn't say a word in reply, she simply allowed Michelle the option to expand upon her words if she had wished. After a large group of people had passed by them in the tunnel, Michelle broke her focus on the shark to faced Gia. The brunette was giving her the softest look she'd ever seen on a person's face. Michelle's breath hitched at the back of her throat at the sight. “I don't want to go,” She managed to get out in a partial whisper.

After a brief moment Gia responded, “Well I do.” Michelle was taken aback by what she had just heard, and was also really hurt by it. “Yeah,” Gia continued, “I want you to go quit your job, grab all your stuff, and come back to open your shop and make the clothes that you want.” Michelle's face split into a teary smile. “Seriously, Rocki's not doing so hot in school. I don't think collage is going to be in her future and she's going to need a good job, so she can support me when I'm old.” Michelle giggled at her words where Gia joined in. “Michelle, a good portion of my retirement plan rests in your hands.”

“How much of a portion?” The blond flashed a smile.

“89%” They both said in unison with a chuckle.

“Hey, Mom!” Came Rocki's voice from down the tunnel as her and Jackson were making their way towards them. The teens stopped in front of them. “Look what we found at the gift shop,” she held a small glass dome with a wale inside of some sort of clear gel.

“I thought you guys went to see the otters?” Gia enquired.

Jackson explained, “We did but they were hiding in the water so there was noting to see.”

“Anyway,” Rocki cleared her throat to get her mother's attention. “The woman at the gift shop told us that they make these dinky toys here at the park, and all they do is put these little sea creatures inside of this plastic container full of... wait for it... petroleum jelly!” The girl then whipped out a makeup brush from her back pocket, like she had it on the ready to dramatically sell her mom the idea.

“I feel as if I should be calling Stephanie right now,” Michelle said with only partial sarcasm.

“Wait,” Gia looked to Michelle, “We can do it covertly. Just paint on the fake crack and stand afar and see what happens.”

Michelle stared at her, not able to say no to her dopey pleading face, before she rolled her eyes and turned to Rocki. “You going to paint it?”

“Hell yeah,” She nodded and cheered.

“Auntie Michelle, are you sure we should be doing this?” Jackson asked uneasily.

“What would your mother say to you in this scenario?” His aunt asked him.

“Um... probably something like; 'Jackson, don't allow the cool girls to influence you with their rebellious ways. Be the example they need'.”

“And what kind of example do we need right now?”

“I guess, a person who wants to keep you out of trouble,” he nodded his head sternly.

“Like a look-out?” Michelle smiled at him mischievously.

His eyes lit up as he hopped on board with their antics, “Exactly!” he snapped and pointed his finger. “I'll keep watch on this side,” He pivoted to keep an eye out as Rocki opened her plastic jar that looked as if it were not meant to open, but she had pried off the lid beforehand, and started to dip her brush into the jelly.

“I want to make like a bullet hit kind of crack pattern,” Rocki scanned the glass, “Right there," she pointed towards the top of the dome.

“Of course you want it where you can't reach,” Michelle sighed.

“An artist doesn’t chose the spot, the spot chooses the artist.”

Michelle stared at her then moved her gaze towards her mother, like Gia was somehow responsible for her daughter's rational.

“Hey, you can't argue with that logic,” Gia shrugged.

Michelle smiled then crouched beside Rocki, tapping her shoulders, “Okay, hop on up.”

“Wait!” Gia stopped them. Just then a couple walked by. After the two had gone the brunette gave a thumbs up, “You're good to go from this end.”

“Jackson?” Michelle called to her nephew on the other side.

“Yeah, all clear over here,” He informed her.

Rocky climbed onto Michelle's shoulders where Gia had stepped in to help her daughter balance as the blonde straightened out. Michelle stepped towards the glass where Rocki was quick to start working, almost as if she were used to the concept of tagging under tight time constraints.

After about a minute Jackson ran up to them, “Okay you gotta get down now. I'm pretty sure the guy coming up the tunnel is an employee.”

“Okay, I'm pretty much done,” The girl handed her friend her jar and brush before Michelle had bent down for her to hop off.

The four of them quickly moved a good two metres away from the area as Rocki dumped the evidence in her bag. The man that Jackson had spotted, who was indeed an employee, had passed them, luckily not noticing their artwork as he did.

Once he was gone, Michelle went back to the scene of the crime, wanting to see the teen's handy work. When she saw it she was very impressed. It genuinely looked like someone had thrown a rock or something at the glass and cracked it. She couldn't help herself as she took out her phone and snapped a photo of it.

Michelle then had an idea. She looked to the teens and waved them over, “Hey, Jackson. Rocki. Come here.” They shrugged and complied as they walked over. “Go stand under the crack and pretend that you've just discovered it and are freaking out.”

They looked to each other first; nodding with mischievous agreement, then did as said. Jackson dramatically pointed at the fake crack as Rocki looked directly into Michelle's camera with pure terror in her eyes. The blonde tried her best to conceal her giggles as to not shake her phone, while she snapped a few photos of them, extra careful to get the crack visible in the shots. “Okay,” she released them as she checked the pictures on her phone.

“Oh, I like that one,” Gia said after she had sneaked in beside her, looking at Michelle's phone. “Send that one to me, won't ya?”

“Uh-hu,” Michelle hummed though a smile as she quickly texted it to Gia's number.

“Let us see,” Rocki said as her and Jackson approached. Michelle turned her phone for them to look where they soon started to laugh. “Dude, you look like such a nerd,” the girl insulted Jackson.

“So do you!” He tried his hardest to sound serious, but the boy was hopeless at being anything in the same ballpark as rude, let alone mean. Not that it was warranted to insult Rocki back, it was obvious that she was joking anyway.

“Hey, what's this?” The foursome looked over to see that same employee from earlier, now walking up towards where their fake crack had resided. It was an elderly man who had quickly taken a flashlight off his belt and was now shinning it at Rocki's art work. “What the-- why does this look so...” he took a foil chocolate bar wrapper from his pocket; crunching it into a ball before throwing it at the deviation on the glass, “--familiar!” He exclaimed as the ball hit; smudging the jelly.

He then spun around, facing them before asking, “Have you guys seen any suspicious behaviour around here, like any unmonitored teenagers, perhaps?” He glared mistrustfully at Jackson and Rocki.

“No, sir,” Gia placed a hand on each of the kids' shoulders. “Our tanagers have been sufficiently monitored this whole time,” she flashed him a cheeky smirk.

“Wait a second,” The elderly employee clicked on his flashlight, shinning it in Gia's face. “I remember you!”

Gia then squeezed her grip on Jackson and Rocki, leaning into them as she barked, “Run!”

The kids took off down the tunnel as Gia grabbed Michelle's hand, pulling her away as she chased after the two.

“Hey, get back here!” The man yelled. Michelle cranked her head back to see if she could see him following after, but he was too elderly, and they were too fast. They lost him before Gia had dragged her to the exit of the building, letting go of her hand to open the door.

They all burst out into laughter as they ran for the gates, not wanting to stick around. Specifically for Jackson's and Rocki's sake. The last thing they wanted was for the kids to be banned from the aquarium too.

Once they reached the parking lot, Michelle asked Gia through gasps of air, “Was that the same guy who banned you when you were a teenager?”

Gia giggled, nodding her head, “Yeah.” The four of them irrupted into another round of laughter.

“That poor old man.” Michelle signed in recovery from their jog to safety, “You're probably going to haunt his dreams for the rest of his life.”

“She's actively adding to her list of men she's haunting,” Rocki smirked at her mom. “I guess he'll fall under the Walmart greater with the fanypack and that one security guard from the Grimes concert that you had in literal tears.”

“Him crying was not my fault,” Gia pointed at Rocki. Her daughter then tilted her head like she weren't buying her mom's bullshit. “Okay, fine. It was mostly my fault,” She confessed while rolling her eyes. “But he was being a total jerk so I regret nothing.” Rocki shrugged as if in agreement. Michelle had started a list of her own of all the stories she had to follow up on with the Mahans in the future. “Anyway,” Gia addressed the group. “What now?”

“Movies at our place?” Rocki suggested. “We can introduce Jackson to actual good cinema.”

Gia eyed her before asking, “Kung Fury?”

Rocki smirked, “You know it.”

“I know good cinema,” Jackson hung his head and moseyed away towards the harbour.

Michelle took a step towards Rocki, looking at Jackson's back as he threw his hood on over his head; hiding himself away. “Oh my, not much left of him, is there?” The blonde retorted.

Rocki's eyes lit up as she looked at Michelle before saying, “The important thing is that he's gone. Sorry I doubted you Triceracop. You're the best damn partner I've ever had.”

Michelle sternly looked at the teen and replied, “I came back in time for you, Kung Fury, because, damnit, I love you.” The two then went in for a hug, as was done in the film scene that they were quoting.

“Oh no,” Gia groaned, “Now I have two of them." She referenced the new addition to her collection of Kung Fury fanatics in her life.

Rocki then pulled away from her hug and called out at the boy, “Yo, Jackson. Let's go!” He turned to look at her. “You gonna get schooled in the art of Kung Fury, 'cause you're the only one in the group without this education.”

Jackson shrugged and smiled, “Okay." Before making his way back to them. He really just loved to be included in things, and Michelle had already known that he had a major crush on Rocki, he'd let it slip out on the bus ride there, so she knew he'd be down to do almost anything with the teen while taking her light hearted abuse in the process.

“Okay, gang. I'm parked over here,” Gia pointed at where her car was located in the lot, while simultaneously offering Jackson and Michelle a ride to their house.

Michelle smiled, standing on the spot, watched the trio moved towards the vehicle. She felt like she was with family. It wasn’t like when she was small with all her various forms of parental figures around her, and it wasn't like when she was with her close friends in New York, this was different.

Gia soon noticed that Michelle wasn't walking with them; turning around to find her staring from behind. The brunette locked her gaze with Michelle's, and almost like she were reading her mind, smiled warmly and walked up to her. Wordlessly, Gia took the blonde's hand, lacing their fingers together. Michelle's heart fluttered, almost holding back tears, as she allowed Gia to guide her away, ready for their next adventure together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys. Guess what?! We have another fic in our tiny island fandom! It's called 'I'm Fine' by Valkyrian_Medicus
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/14505651/chapters/33512601
> 
> It's so much better written with fantastic narration and inner thoughts and all the stuff you don't get in this story... it's also edited!!! *looks nervously at my self edited story made up of 89% dialogue* You should check it out!!!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it's a short chapter guys

The Mahans lived in a cute little two storey row-house about fifteen blocks away from the Tanner residence. Inside their cozy living room, which was decked out with a large television and surround sound theatre system, sat Michelle and Jackson on the sofa, with Rocki between them. Gia was on a La-Z-Boy chair that was adjacent to Jackson's seat. Michelle and Rocki naturally gravitated together on the couch to view the film, the two talked the whole way through it, specifically about the movie, but if either Gia or Jackson spoke up, they would immediately shush them and tell them to be quite and watch the movie. Jackson didn't find it as amusing when he was told to be silent, but all three of the girls did. Even Gia chuckled when Michelle had told her to pipe it down in the peanut gallery after the brunette had answered a question that the blonde had intended for Rocki.

The credits were rolling when Michelle heard a vibrating phone. Jackson took his mobile out of his pocket, reading a notification. He then looked to Rocki who had her phone in-hand. “Really?” He asked in confusion.

She gave him an annoyed look. “Yeah, I mean if you think it might not be good enough to pass us as-is we should probably do it. Besides, it won't take us long.” She raised her eyebrows as for him to grab a hint.

“Ah,” He nodded in understanding.

The girl then rolled her eyes at his lack of subtlety before turning to Gia. “Mom, Jackson and I are going to his place to finish our school project that's due tomorrow.”

“I thought you said it was practically done already?” Her mom enquired.

“Yeah, that was my way of saying that I was going to leave it for Jackson to finish.”

Jackson jumped in, “Which I sorta did.”

“Yeah,” Rocki continued, “But it's kind of rough and could use some spray paint and possibly a few sparklers.”

Michelle tilted her head in curiosity, “What class is this for?”

They both said in unison, “History.”

Michelle and Gia shared a confused look before shrugging off the absurdity of the teens and their homework assignment.

“Come on, Jackson,” Rocki got up where the boy was quick to get to his feet too.

“Do you guys need a ride?” Gia offered.

“No.” Rocki then followed up with. “We'll take my bike.”

“Ah man,” Jackson moaned, “I hate sitting on your handlebars.”

“Then stand on the back,” she thrust a pair of keys into his hand that she had reached out of her front pant pocket for. “Go unlock the shed and grab my bike, won’t ya.” she turned to run up the stairs, “I'll meet you out back in like two minutes,” she yelled before disappearing to their second floor.

Jackson sighed as he walked towards the kitchen to reach the backdoor. “I guess I'll see you later at home, Aunty Michelle,” He gave his farewell as he walked through the door into the kitchen, not allowing her the chance to respond.

“Those two are strange,” Michelle said as she got up to grab the empty bowls off the coffee table, which earlier were filled past the brim with popcorn and chips.

Gia leaned forward, throwing in some empty pop-cans into the dishes that were in the blonde's hands. “I guess we have to come to terms with the fact that our DNA runs through their veins.”

Michelle chuckled before turning to leave for the kitchen; hearing Gia gathering the rest of the cans before following her into the other room too.

The blonde caught sight of Jackson through the back window, unlocking the shed that was in the corner of their small backyard. She then moved to the island placing the bowl down briefly to take out the cans. “Recycling?”

Gia came around the island from the other side, wordlessly opening a large drawer that held the bin, where she proceeded to throw the pop-cans she had in her own hand before allowing the blonde to do the same with the ones she had.

Michelle, now suddenly met with nerves as she failed to look up at the woman who was now standing next to her. She knew that the kids were leaving, and she also knew that Gia had not kicked her out of the house yet. So, what was next? Should she offer to leave, not wanting to impose, or would that make things awkward? She didn't want to leave, but she was also anxious to stay, with the safety net of Jackson and Rocki now no longer going to be there.

“I'll wash these,” Michelle abruptly grabbed the bowls off the counter; turning to the sink that was across from the island.

“You don't have to. Just put it in the dishwash...” Gia's sentence fragmented as she opened the machine next to Michelle, “-er, full of clean dishes.” She looked up to Michelle, “I was supposed to empty that this morning.”

The brunette then scouted around the room before her face broke into a mischievous smirk. Michelle tracked Gia as she walked towards the kitchen table where a backpack sat on one of the chairs. The bag was open with a few textbooks sticking out. The brunette grabbed the books and placing them on the middle of the floor, along with the bag before she hurried back to stand on the far side of the island.

Just as Gia had stilled herself near Michelle, Rocki had walked into the kitchen, “Here are the sushi menus,” she put them on the counter right at the entryway. “Make sure you feed Michelle proper food if you guys stay in, and don't attempt to cook anything.” She then approached her school work on the ground. “Why is my stuff on the floor?” She asked, without a hint of annoyance or anger in her voice.

“Yes,” Gia threw her hands to her hips, “Roxanne Jillian Mahan, why is your stuff on the floor? I should ground you for your insubordination. Luckily, I'm willing to forgive this offence if you do one task in its stead.”

Rocki sighed, moving towards Gia from the other side of the island, “Mom, I'm not unloading the dishwasher for you.”

“Fine,” She huffed. Then, just as Rocki was about to leave, Gia asked, “Wait. Did you brush your teeth?”

“Yes.”

“I thought I smelled minty-freshness,” Gia then went to the fridge, scanning it's shelves before retrieving a mug. “Here, it was my morning coffee. I shoved it in here after you called me to come get you.” Rocki walked over to grab the beverage where she then proceeded to take a swig of it, only to swish and gargle it in her mouth, and then spit it out in the sink. “Hit me,” Gia waved her daughter over where the teen then breathed in her mother's face. “Yep, much better.” Gia turned to Michelle, “Can't let people know that we practice proper hygiene in this household. Especially not DJ Tanner... or whatever her last name is now.” The blonde smirked at her, finding their antics the most amusing.

Rocki was now off towards the backdoor, “Bye. And, Mom, please pick my stuff up from off the floor.” Her voice trailed off as she met Jackson, already with her bike standing at the fence. Shortly they left through the back gate and were off to the Tanner residence.

Michelle's gaze was still fixed out the window, thinking on Rocki's and Gia's relationship. She wondered if her own mother hadn’t died when she was a baby, if their mother/daughter relationship would have been anything like what the Mahans had. They acted more like best friends than they did mother and daughter. Gia was still obviously there for Rocki like a parent when the times seem to call for it, but overall they appeared to have a them against the world mentality, like a team.

Gia then hopped up to sit on top of the island before asking, “Penny for your thoughts, Little Tanner.”

Michelle looked to her before sharing. “Rocki's a really amazing kid, you're probably one of the luckiest people in the world to have her as a daughter.”

After hearing those words, Gia's lighthearted demeanour had shifted, matching to Michelle's insightful seriousness. “Yeah, I'd say I'm pretty damn lucky.”

“And she's the luckiest kid to have you as her mom.”

“Pft,” Gia dropped her head, “I feel like my parenting style is just one screw up after another.”

Michelle smirked, “well, you've always been a little slow on the uptake so I'm not surprised you'd wrongly think that.”

“Hey!” Gia’s head shot up to glare the other woman down, but it only turned into her smiling back at the blonde's playful expression.

“Seriously though,” Michelle said in earnest, “You're such a remarkable mother. You're everything to Rocki what I'd always wished my mother could have been to me.”

Gia's gaze locked onto Michelle's, with that same soft look she'd given the blonde earlier that day at the aquarium. “Come here,” Gia practically whispered as she reached her arm out to Michelle.

Without hesitation, Michelle moved in closer to her, where the brunette used her feet to guide her right in; wrapping her legs around her as Gia’s extended hand slid to the side of Michelle's neck; her thumb gently swept over her cheek while her other hand grasped her by the hip. Michelle's hands fell to Gia's shoulders as her heart raced; forgetting to breathe. Blue eyes looked onto green before Gia tilted her head down, as her seat gave her a slight height advantage, closing the gap while lifting Michelle's chin, as the blonde took a quick shallow breath before their lips met and their eyes shut.

Gia's bottom lip slid into Michelle’s silently beckoning mouth. The brunette then tightened her legs’ grip around the blonde's waist; briefly nibbling at her lip before tilting her head so that she could slide her tongue inside Michelle’s welcoming mouth. The blonde moaned to the action as her hands dragged up from Gia's shoulders stopping only once they cupped the smaller woman's face. The brunette then respond in sweeping her hand, that was at Michelle's hip, up the blonde’s back pushing her in closer. The edge of the counter was digging into the blonde's upper thighs, not that she had allowed it to stop her from leaning further into the brunette; deepening their kiss as she met Gia's tongue with her own.

Michelle could feel her closed eyes welling up; tears soon trying to escape. It had been like she'd kissed multiple lips before, but Gia's somehow had her name written on them like they were made specifically for Michelle. The blonde's head started to race at the same speed as her heart. She lived on the other side of the country. She had contracts signed. She had an apartment. She had industry connections. She was tethered to New York. It all came flooding into her forethought. It felt like her life was running full speed in the opposite direction from Gia. In that moment, rational was a distant stranger and sheer panic became her friend. Her dream company where she was free to root it in San Francisco, was just that, a dream. Just like the thought of being with Gia and Rocki.

Michelle, with a heavy ache in her chest, pulled completely away from Gia; breaking all physical contact. “I can't do this,” Michelle gasped as she wiped at the tears that had broken away to run down her face. “I'm sorry, I gotta go,” The blonde abruptly turned away from the other woman, not having the courage to look at her, as she bolted for the living room.

“Wait. Michelle,” She heard Gia calling after her.  
Michelle grabbed her purse from off a hook at the front door, listening to the footsteps of the brunette who followed her into the room. The blonde grabbed the door knob as she looked up at Gia for the first time after their bodies had parted. It broke her heart even more at seeing the hurt and confusion in the other woman's eyes. “I leave tomorrow,” was all Michelle had the capacity to say; wishing she had the vocabulary to better explain her actions. Before Gia could respond, the blonde had slipped out of the house, desperate for the fresh air, hoping that it would fill her now suffocating lungs.

The young woman had known that she had royally screwed up, while she moved in the direction of her childhood house, and away from Gia. She held her chest, trying to calm her heart palpitations, while cursing herself out under her breath.

Once she made her way off of the bay that the Mahans had lived on, she caught sight of a bench, across the main-drag that followed the water, that overlooked the ocean. Michelle made hast towards the spot, jaywalking across the busy street, like it was somehow going to relieve her pain if she had reached it in good time. Once she had arrived at her destination, she collapsed on the bench, head falling between her knees as she started to shake; tears now falling freely down her face. Michelle Tanner was in love, and the thought of losing it had terrified her into a straight on anxiety attack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again to all you guys for reading this story, and a special thanks to you guys who leave comments! Those really light a fire under my ass to write more ;)


	5. Chapter 5

It had probably been at least an hour and a half before Michelle got home; sneaking in through the backdoor with intentions of slipping in and going down into the basement unnoticed. She didn't know if Jackson and Rocki had told her sisters where she was and who she was with, so she really wanted to avoid them altogether. Though, the thought of her sisters catching her was nowhere near as frightening as the thought of Rocki seeing her. What would she even say to the girl?  _ I'm sorry for being the disappointment that the world has shown you and your mother over and over again?  _ God, That might have been the most painful part of the whole situation, Michelle not being an exception to the rule, but yet another example that reinforced it.

She didn't see anyone thought the window before she tactically opened the door in silence, sliding through and softly shutting the door behind her.

“You always were the quietest when sneaking back into the house.”

Michelle jumped, spinning around to see a familiar person standing in front of her with a proud lopsided grin of his face. “Uncle Jesse!” She uttered in surprise, “I was just...” she struggled for words, deciding to shift the focus onto him instead, “Hey, what brings you here? Are Aunt Becky and the baby here too?”

“Nice avoidance,” He gave her a knowing look,” and no they are not, they're at home. I wanted to wish Stephanie a happy birthday. And to be honest, when I heard you were here, I made an extra effort to stop by to say it in person. Gave me a reason to see my little munchkin too.” Despite Michelle's downtrodden mood, she gently smiled at her favourite uncle's words.

He slowly approached her as his expression shifted to reveal concern. “No offence kid, but you're looking kinda rough.” Michelle darted her eyes off to the side, realising that her face must have been puffy and red from crying. “You didn't get into it with another football captain again, did you? Punch him in the nose for not treating his girl right, like you did back in high school.”

Michelle softly chuckled, “No.” She then sighed, allowing her gaze to fall downwards. “Though, I would have gladly taken a few hits from a linebacker or two, over what I just did.”

“Hey, Uncle Jesse!” Michelle's head snapped up in hearing Stephanie's voice coming from the living room. Without realising what she was doing, she darted down a few of the basement steps, hiding behind the wall. Before her uncle could respond to her actions, her sister flew open the kitchen door. “Did you find the leftover cupcakes?”

Jesse spun around; facing Stephanie. “Uh, yeah. I just pulled them out of the fridge. They're on the counter,” Michelle saw her uncle point at his mentioned location.

“And you're standing by the back door, away from the frosted baking, why?”

Michelle squeezed her eyes shut, praying that he wouldn't mention her. As if he was reading her mind he responded. “Oh, ah. I had just remembered that I had wanted to grab my extra amp cable while I was here. The one I've got is fraying.” Michelle let out a sign of relief; grateful that he decided to cover for her. “I'm just going to grab it from the basement before I forget about it. I'll meet you girls back in the other room in a sec.”

“Alright, but if you take too long, there might not be any cupcakes left for you. 'Cause I'm bringing all the leftovers with me.” Michelle heard Stephanie's voice trail off into the living room, where the inconspicuous woman then speedily descended the stairs, desperate to hide away

“Hey, hey, hey. Wait up,” Jesse followed after her.

Ignoring her uncle, Michelle headed straight for the guest bed; dropping her purse on the floor as she collapsing face first into a pillow. The man stilled himself in the middle of the basement, giving her some space. “That bad, huh?”

Michelle sighed loudly before she pushed herself up into a sitting position on the bed and faced him. Jesse grabbed a nearby speaker box, dragging it to the foot of the bed to use as a stool. “I know that look,” he pointed at her face as he sat. “That's the look of someone who's being turned inside out by heartache.”

Michelle shook her head, “And what would make you say that?” She wondered if her family had told him anything about their idea of setting her up, and who they had aimed to set her up with.

“Kid, your Uncle Jesse is no stranger to love and all the crazy things it does to a person.”

Michelle slowly nodded, accepting his answer. “I don't know what to do.”

“You don't know what to do, or you're afraid to go after what you do want to do?”

Michelle sighed in defeat, “I know exactly what I want to do, I'm just scared I'll fail at it.”

“Well, scared of failure has never stopped you before.” He leaned in to shrink the space between them. “You've always been hard core rock-n-roll.”

Michelle laughed out of sheer confusion, “I'm what now? Rock-n-roll? I'm the least musical person in this family.”

“Okay, one, no you're not. That would be your Aunt Becky. God I love that woman but she can not carry a tune,” He said the last bit more to himself than to her. “And two.” he got himself back on track, “I'm talking your attitude towards life. You don't let anything stand in your way. You want something, you go after it. You literally moved across the country by yourself, to the big city, to chase your dreams.”

She let his words sink in before saying, “Yeah.”

“Yeah,” He repeated her. “So you can do this… whatever this is.” He scrunched his face and asked, “What is this?”

“I'm going to start my own company, here based in San Francisco.” She cracked a smile, finding confidence in herself as she stated, “I'm moving back home.”

“What? You are?” Jesse's eyes lit up, “Are you telling me that my favourite youngest niece in the whole world, is going to live in the same timezone as me again?” Michelle stifled a giggle as she nodded her head which made the man crack a grin. “But there's still more here,” he dropped his smile and eyed her. “you didn't sneak into this house with the face of someone who just watched the end of Toy Story 3, just because you want to move back home.” His eyes softened, “Who's got a hold of your heart there, Munchkin?”

Michelle bit her lip, deciding to just come out and answer his question. Hoping that he'd take the response well like her sisters had. “Gia Mahan,” She said rather boldly.

“You mean Stephanie's friend from Jr. High? The one from Girl Talk with the bass?”

“That would be the one.”

“I always liked that kid.” He smiled. “So that's your type then? Edgy rebel without a cause?”

She shook her head while trying to make sense of the response he had towards her coming out to him. “Hold up, so you're not surprised that I just said a girl's name? Did DJ and Stephanie tell you already about my, well, you know... that I like girls?”

Jesse laughed, “DJ and Stephanie? No.” He then smirked at her knowingly, “Michelle, you used to come home from your first day of school, every year, and tell me who your favourite female teachers were in descending order of hotness.”

Michelle's eyes widened in recollection. “Oh my god, I did do that.” She then thought on it a little longer. “Wait, does that mean that Dad and Uncle Joey knew too?”

“I really couldn't say,” he shrugged his shoulders, “But what I do know is, they wouldn't love you any less if they did.”

Michelle warmly smiled at him before lifting herself to her knees; leaning over to give him a big huge. “Thanks, Uncle Jesse.” She squeezed him tightly where he hugged her back. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” He then kissed the side of her head before adding, “and I'm so proud of you.”

“Well, I can't say that I'm proud of myself right now,” She pulled away from him. “I royally screwed things up with Gia today.”

“Well, is it fixable?”

A knot tightened in her stomach at the fear that it wasn't. “I sure hope so,” She gulped.

“Then you better get on it and try and fix it.”

Michelle's head started to race. She needed to apologise to Gia and somehow communicate to her that she had every intention of fighting for her, for them. She pondered on the idea of calling her. Though, that seemed too intimidating to her. She didn't know what was going to happen exactly when she got back to New York. There was a real possibility that she was about to completely sever ties with the company that had given her a serious shot at success, which she feared may result in dire consequences. So trying to have a conversation without any knowledge of the situation seemed futile. Calling was off the table.  _ A text, perhaps? _ Michelle then thought on the response that she might get back from that, or worse, if she didn't get a response at all.  _ No, not a text. _

“Hey, Uncle Jesse,” Michelle heard DJ's voice as the woman trotting down the stars, “That amp cable should be in the tall box over...” Her sister caught sight of Michelle, “...in the corner,” She stilled herself at the bottom of the stairs; cocking her head to the side as she looked to her youngest sister, “When did you get back? Jackson said you were still at Gia's,” She asked in confusion.

“I was, then I wasn't,” Michelle jumped up to her feet from off the bed. “Does Dad still have his stationary in the kitchen desk drawer?” She asked while whizzing past her towards the stairs.

“Uh, yeah,” She answered in puzzlement.

“Great!” Michelle bounded up the stairs into the kitchen, quickly snatching a piece of paper with a matching envelope as well as a pen from the mentioned drawer. She then looked up; sliding a recipe book from the shelf above, for a hard surface to write on. Quickly, she slipped out the back door before anyone could catch her and press her with questions.

The young woman found a seat on the same bench that her and Gia had shared that evening before. She took a long draw of breath, holding it in for a few seconds before exhaling. Allowing her inhibitions to be released onto the stationary; praying that her openness and vulnerability would be received well and wouldn't come back to hurt her. She then put pen to paper.

  
  


**~oOo~**

“Come on, Mom, ya gotta get up!” Gia heard her daughter speaking at a volume that she found far too loud for her current sleepy state.

The woman had already slapped at her alarm twice that morning, finally just shutting it off; calling the day quits before it had even begun.

She then listened as Rocki's footsteps took her to the washroom down the hall. “Ah,” Gia groaned as she turned over in bed while putting her pillow over her head, hoping her daughter would just let her be and sleep the day away.

Gia was just so emotionally drained. She had spent the night hating on herself, starting after Michelle had fled her house. How she could have been so stupid to fall so entirely for someone who had lived so far away, and worst of all, for thinking that choosing Michelle was going to result in a different outcome from all the others, was torturing her brain. Gia had legitimately thought that Michelle might have been the one that she'd been waiting for her whole life, and she was most afraid of the possibility that she'd lose her before she'd truly ever even had her in the first place. Damn the youngest Tanner sister was haunting her very soul as it ripped pieces of her heart out, little by little.

“Mom,” She heard Rocki again, but this time she walked into the room where she sat at the edge of her bed. “You have work today.”

“I'm not going to work. Life is too hard,” Gia grumbled.

“You know I can't understand you when you mutter into your pillow.”

Gia sighed, uncovering her head and flopping back over to face her daughter. Rocki was dressed for school, looking at her with an understanding face. “I just want to sleep,” Gia said plainly without an ounce of energy.

“Mom, what happened yesterday with Michelle?” She asked with concern.

“Nothing.”

Rocki eyed her sharply, “Mom. Seriously.”

“I don't know what to tell you,” Gia said in frustration as she pulled herself up into a sitting position. “She left, Rocki. She doesn’t live here. She was here and then she left. Simple as that. I don't know what you were expecting with that whole stunt of yours and Jackson's yesterday.”

“Nuh, uh,” Rocki pointed her finger sternly at her, “You are not putting this on us! You were already in love with her before we intervened.”

Her daughter's words hit her like a ton of bricks. She was in love with Michelle. Michelle wasn't just a potential avenue that might had led to love. No, the street had already been travelled down and Gia had unknowingly crashed head first into it. The woman's eyes started to well up, as the image of her daughter in front of her started to blur.

“Shit,” Rocki said softly as she moved in closer towards her mother. Gia pulled her knees up and leaned over to the side, falling up against her daughter, resting her chin on Rocki's shoulder. The teen then gently put her hand to rest it on her mom's head. They sat in silence for a moment before Rocki quietly suggested, “We could fly to New York and go get her?”

“What?” Gia lifted her head and laughed at the absurdity of her daughter's words.

“Jackson said her flight was like at 6:30 this morning, so she'd already be up in the air now. Meaning, the only way to drag her back would be to go to New York.”

“Drag her back?” Gia looked at her in half amusement and half concern.

Rocki flashed a smile, “Yes. She's ours now. And you can't just leave this family without repercussions.”

Gia smirked back, “I had almost forgotten that we had chosen the mobster life.”

“So can we go?” Rocki's pressed.

“To New York?” She asked as if the girl had been sipping on silly-juice.

The teen added, “Today?”

Gia's voice raised an octave as her eyes bulged out of her head, “Today?” Rocki didn't respond, she merely waited patiently for her mother to answer. “I-I don't even know what we'd say to her.” The woman stuttered over her words. “Her life is there.”

“For now,” Rocki quickly jumped in. “She wants to be here. She said so herself. She's going to make her dream clothing company here and steal all my designs, remember?”

Gia looked sympathetically at her daughter, in that moment truly realising just how much Rocki had wanted Michelle back as well. She didn't just want her for her mother's benefit, but because she loved her too. “Rocki,” Gia wrapped her arms around her daughter, “Life can be complicated. We may not always get to do everything that we want to do.”

“So why even bother trying?” Rocki came back at her. “Life's complicated so let's just stay in bed and give up then.”

Gia groaned in frustration, throwing her head down into Rocki's shoulder. “Why do you have to be so mature? I miss the good old days when you were too young to keep me accountable.”

“So like when I was four?”

Gia pushed her forehead gently into Rocki's temple and smiled, “Yeah, like when you were four.” The teen then let out a small chuckle under her breath.

Suddenly the doorbell rang, where the two girls quickly pulled their heads back from one another to give each other a look of confusion. Rocki got up and started towards the front door. Gia slowly got out of bed, heart racing as she crept down the hallway far behind her, stopping at the top of the stairs behind the wall for cover, where Rocki had practically sprinted down them.  _ What if it was Michelle?  _ Gia wondered in hopefulness.

She heard Rocki open the door where a familiar voice came from the other side, “Hey, Rocki, is your mother around?” Gia's heart dropped in hearing DJ Fuller's voice.

“Ah, sorta. She's upstairs getting ready. So she's around, just not around to like chit-chat.” Gia smiled at her daughter's words, knowing that she was trying to save her from interacting with the senior Tanner sister.

“Oh, that's fine. I was just entrusted with this letter for her. I suppose I could give it to you, so long as you promise to give it straight to your mom as soon as the opportunity presents itself. Do you think you could handle this responsibility?”

“Ah, yeah, sorry, could you repeat to me again in what I'm supposed to do with the letter? There were just way too many complicated steps you'd mentioned just then,” The girl said in a dry sarcastic manner.

“Ha, ha, very funny,” Gia could hear the tension in DJ's voice as she tried to sound as pleasant as possible. “Here you go.” Gia peeked around the corner to see the woman passing an envelope to her child. “Hey,” DJ sniffed the air in front of Rocki, “Is that mint toothpaste I detect on your breath?”

“No. Kay bye.” The girl practically slammed the door in her face as she shooed her off. "See, I knew Jackson's been a good influence on you! Your dentist should thank my parenting skills!" The blonde hollered from the other side of the door as Rocki watched her walk towards her vehicle that was in their driveway, through the window in the door. Rocki then called out to her mom as DJ backed her car out of the drive, “All clear!”

Gia started down the stairs where Rocki had held out the letter for her from the bottom landing. Gia took the item, sitting on one of the middle steps as she examined it. The envelope was white with black outlined stars in the two top corners, and her name written in black pen across the front in rounded print.

Her heart started pounding as she slid the envelope flap out, which was tucked into itself in a means of keeping it fastened. She slid a piece of stationary out, tossing the, now empty, envelope next to her. She took a deep breath and unfolded the note, to reveal those same stars boarding the paper and a handwritten message that read:

_ Dear Gia, _

_ I am so very sorry. I completely messed up. You made me feel something that I've never felt before and I couldn't deal with it. I couldn't deal with the fact that when I looked into your eyes I saw my future and when I kissed you you felt like home. I panicked because I knew that our moment together was temporary yet I longed for it to be permanent, so I ran. You didn't deserve that. I hope that you can find it in yourself to forgive me, and I swear to you that I'm going to do everything I can to make it up to you and set everything right. _

_ My deepest apologies, _

_ Michelle _

 

Gia brought her hand up to her face as she started to cry into her palm. Her body shook as the tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Mom?” Rocki spat out in fright as she leaped to her side and pulled her into a full hug. “What did it say? 'Cause I swear I'll kick the crap out of her if you need me too. I hope she's a protein deficient vegan though, so it'll make it easier to take her down, but apparently those are a lot rarer than the general public would have you think.”

Gia giggled through her tears as she wrapped her arms around her over protective daughter. “No,” the woman sniffled. “No beating up family.”

“Family?” She asked with hope in her voice. “Does that mean she's coming back?”

“It means, she's not giving up.” Gia then locked her gaze onto her daughter's, “and neither are we.”

Rocki cracked a grin, “So what you're saying is, we're going to New York?”

Gia smirked and shook her head, “What I'm saying is, you're going to school and I'm going to work, while we allow Michelle the time to figure things out.”

Rocki unwrapped her arms from around her mother, where Gia followed suit; releasing her as well. The girl looked forward with a smirk on her face. She sat with a sense of relief before saying as casually as she could, “I mean, I'm not mad, I just really wanted to go to New York. I feel like we'd thrive there. Rude people everywhere and the temperature is nearly always right to wear an awesome jacket and pair of kickass boots.”

“Well it's not like the heat and local etiquette has ever stopped us here.” Gia wiped her eyes and shrugged, “besides, if we go against the cultural norm, we're just more bad-ass for it.”

“Congratulations, your mom-logic has just saved you from purchasing two plane tickets across the country.”

Gia lauged, grateful that Rocki was helping her recover from her emotional episode. “Good, 'cause renting that boat last week to throw our old basement door into the ocean, put us over budget for the month.” The woman happily contributed to the new light-hearted intentions of the conversation.

“It was necessary though. Now we know that if our door was floating amongst the wreckage of the Titanic, Jack would have still died because your butt was too big for me to climb up on there with you.”

Gia rolled her eyes before kissing her daughter on the cheek; her love for her overflowing in that moment. “Now get out of here, you're going to be later for school.”

“Yeah, I'm going,” Rocki stood up and headed for the kitchen to grab her bag and leave out the back, but before she disappeared into the other room she turned towards Gia. “Mom?”

“Yeah?”

“I think it's going to be different this time,” The teen nodded her head.

Gia smirked at her, “I sure hope so, Kido.” Rocki smiled back and then turned; vanishing into the kitchen and out the backdoor.

Now alone, Gia looked to the note once again, as she traced her fingers across the indents of the pen strokes, reading Michelle's words, over and over again. “Just make sure you come back to us,” She whispered before closing her eyes and pressing the note to her heart. Needing Michelle to be different. To be the first to not let them down.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it's been awhile. I thought this was going to be a short last chapter but it turned into a long chapter that didn't end the story. so, i hope you enjoy this not-last-chapter
> 
> ...where am i even going to end this thing at now????

The doorbell had rung at the Mahan residence. Gia moved gracefully down the stairs, despite her stiletto heels that would have been sure to trip up an armature, Gia had reached the bottom landing without a hitch. She wore a black knee-length dress with criss-crossing straps around the shoulders and down the back. It had a slight sweeping movement as she moved, but not by much; Gia had always preferred form fitting clothing opposed to flowing ones.

“Wait, who's at the door? And why are you all dressed up?” Rocki asked in confusion from the sofa. She had the television on, volume low, and her mobile phone in hand. Unlike her mother, she was wearing a housecoat like she were ready for bed, at six in evening on a Friday night.

“I've got a date,” Gia said just before opening the door to reveal a tall handsome man with black hair and olive skin, standing on the other side; bouquet of flowers in hand. “Hey, you must be, Trevor,” The brunette smiled at him.

Rocki must have leaped out of her seat, because before the man had an opportunity to say anything, the teen was at the door, pushing it closed on his face. “What the hell, Mom?” She snapped at her. “Who the hell is this dude?” she angrily pointed at the man through the window on their door.

Gia sighed heavily in annoyance before answering, “That's Trevor.”

“Yeah, hi. I'm Trevor.” The man spoke up and waved at her through the window. “You must be Gia's daughter. Nice to meet you,” He waved.

Rocki turned to her mom, “He knows who I am? You never tell your dates who I am. You always just let them randomly meet me and end up telling them I'm your live-in therapist or something equally ridiculous, just to see how they react.”

Gia shrugged, “Yeah, I know. I guess I'd mentioned you this time through one of our text chats.”

“Wait,” The girl gave her a look of disgust before turning to open the door, just enough to shove her head though the crack. “How long have you and my mom been talking online for?” She asked the man.

“Ah,” He looked a little awkward, darting his eyes from Gia back to Rocki, before he answered. “like a few days… maybe a week.”

Rocki pulled he head back inside as she slammed the door once again, focusing back on her mom. “A week?!” She repeated in outrage. “You mean this isn't just some stupid laps in judgement, last minute hook-up? It was a thought out planned date? Whatever happened to allowing Michelle time to figure things out?”

This time Gia exploded, “Rocki, it's been over two months! Two months without a word! She wrote that note, then nothing. No call, no text. Just radio silence!”

“Well did you try calling her? Did you even try to reach out to her, at all? Yeah, she's got your number but you have her number too. You didn't even respond to her letter, did you?”

“Rocki, we're not having this discussion,” Gia said firmly.

“Why?”

Without the emotional capacity to carry on with her daughter, Gia grabbed her coat and purse before barking, “Because I'm leaving.” She then swung open the door and took the flowers from Trevor, giving him a quick smile and thanks, before shoving them into Rocki's hands, “Put these in a vase. I'll be back before twelve.”

The woman then spun around and hooked her elbow around Trevor's arm, “Shall we?” She then guided him to his car rather firmly.

“You're making a huge mistake!” Gia heard her daughter yell at her before she climbed into the passenger seat. The woman waved goodbye to her, trying to show her that she didn't care about the girl’s words of concerns. Even though, Gia had felt them right to the pit of her stomach. There was a reason she didn't tell her daughter about her reactivating her online dating profiles. Rocki had always been like a mirror being forcefully held up in front of her, making her take an honest look at herself.

As soon as they were both belted securely, Trevor started the car off. It didn't take him long before he spoke up. “So, is everything okay? Like, your daughter seemed quite upset about me showing up to take you out. You had mentioned that she's usually a pretty chilled kid when we last talked online.” He seemed to ask as if he genuinely cared.

“Yeah, everything's fine. She'll be fine,” Gia forced out a half-assed answer, wanting to stop that particular line of conversation right then and there. She looked out the passenger window, her stomach heavy with uneasiness.

“What about this Michelle person you guys were talking about?”

“She's nobody,” Gia practically barked, as she realised the resentment she was holding towards the other woman. Gia grinded her teeth as she thought about Michelle and how she didn't owe her anything. She didn't need to give her anymore time or space to figure things out while waiting for her. She didn't need to give her another thought at all.

Gia then placed her hand on Trevor's thigh. “Pull over.” She requested in an empty voice.

“Wha-” he looked over to her in confusion.

Gia smiled slyly before she repeated, “pull over.”

He turned his attention back to the road and said, “okay,” in more of a question as he pulled the car over to the side of the residential street, throwing it into park.

Just as the car was stationary, Gia whipped off her seat belt and rather skilfully climbed over the gear-shifter and straddled Trevor. This wasn't the first time she'd done this maneuver, and was familiar enough as how to do it without sacking a man with a knee or blasting the car horn with her butt.

He looked at her with surprise before stammering,“What are you--”

“Shh,” She placed a finger over his mouth. “Don't pretend like this isn't what you want,” She sad right before going in for a kiss. It took but a brief moment until the man seemed to shift gears in his head and accept his current situation, as he reached around her back and pulled her closer into the kiss.

Gia wanted to forget Michelle, she wanted Trevor's touch to tell her that she could be with someone else, that another person could feel just like the blonde had felt when their bodies had met. However, Gia felt numb. Like the man was caressing her skin through a thin plastic barrier. Her arm hairs didn't stand up on end nor did her heart's rhythm skip a beat. She felt like a corps as she frustratingly shoving her tongue down deeper into Trevor's mouth, attempting to suck some life out of him as she desperately tried to resurrect herself, but no energy transfer took place. 'What was she doing?' She had thought to herself. 'This wasn't the person who owned her heat'.

Gia abruptly pulled her head away from Trevor's. “Shit! Crap! No,” she muttered to herself while wiping her mouth with one hand and reaching over to grab her purse, that was on the passenger seat, with her other. “I gotta go,” She said while opening the driver door and sliding out of the car.

“Wait! Why?” The man looked at her is puzzlement.

“You just reminded me that I have to make a phone call,” She almost laughed as tears started welling up in her eyes. “I'm going to walk home,” she pointed in the direction of her house that was only about a block and a half away. “Sorry about our date,” She yelled as she speedily turned and headed onto the sidewalk.

“What the hell?” He hollerd, his tone now shifting into what sounded like anger.

Gia just kept moving, now speedily walking away from the man in his vehicle. She didn't want to associate with him anymore. He was her huge mistake, just like Rocki had warned her that he's be. After she passed a few houses, she heard Trevor slam his car door and drive off. His abrupt exit put her at a slight ease, which lasted but a moment before she reached into her purse and pulled out her phone. She went into her contacts and tapped on Michelle's number, which she had done a hundred times in those past two months, but this time she found the strength to hit the call button.

She sniffled and wiped at her wet eyes, trying to pull herself together. As soon as she heard the notification that her phone was calling out, her chest tightened as she felt her breath falling shallow. With each ring her pace increased in speed as her body tried to compensate for her nerves, but by the fifth ring she heard the line switch over to voicemail. “Hi, this is Michelle Tanner,” the message started, “I'm unable to take your call at the moment. Please leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.” Before the messaging system had beeped, Gia frantically moved to hangup. Not wanting to speak to a stupid answering machine, especially when she had no idea in what to say to it. Though, goddamn did hearing the other woman's voice tear a fresh wound in her heart.

It didn't take her much time before her heels were clacking up her front stoop, where she then proceeded to fling open her front door. “Not a single word!” She pointed at her daughter who was still on the sofa, but this time the teen had her phone up to her ear.

Rocki had looked up to her mom, “Oh, never mind, she's back. She just walked through the door,” the teen said into the phone. Gia scrunched her face and cocked her head, wondering who she was chatting with and why they were talking about her whereabouts. After a moment Rocki continued into the phone, “Okay. See you in like a minute then.” She then clicked her phone off and looked to her mom. “Good, I thought we were going to have to use Snap-Map to hunt you down.”

Gia shook her head in confusion, “What are you talking about? And who is 'we'?”

“Wait, answer me this first. What happened? Why are you back?”

Gia, just annoyed at this point, huffed, “I forgot something.”

Rockie lifted herself onto her knees as she shifted her gaze to see out the window. “Did you forget Trevor, perhaps?”

“Perhaps,” the woman decided to swallow her pride, “maybe we lost each other and accidentally parted ways.”

Rocki retorted sarcastically, “Yeah, I can see how easily that might of happen from inside a singular, inclosed vehicle,” she nodded while Gia couldn't help but smirk at her daughter.

Gia then heard a van door sliding open. She looked to see Stephanie running up to the door, freely letting herself in. “Are we ready to go?” Her friend then looked her up and down. “Great outfit, it'll do perfectly.”

Gia pulled her head back, looking at her friend that was now standing beside her, as she furrowed her brow in confusion. “Hey, Steph. Ah, where exactly are we going?” Gia noted Stephanie too wearing formal wear.

“To L.A.” Rocki stood up, taking off her housecoat to reveal a full outfit underneath. She was wearing black tailored pants, and a black sports jacket, that had a colourful lining that you could see rolled up at the sleeves. Underneath was a peach crop-top that had something written across it, but the teen had buttoned up the jacket before Gia could read it.

The fact that her outfit was definitely new, and something that she wouldn't have chosen for herself, almost threw her more than the reveal that they were going to LA.

“Yeah, we better get going now. We really don't have much time,” Stephanie said.

“Woah, wha-? wait!” Gia started in exasperation, “What is happening here? What do you mean we're going to LA? Why?”

Stephanie explained, “Because I got free tickets to a show, so we're all going to see it.”

Before Gia could ask for clarification as to what show, and who everyone was that was going, she heard DJ's voice yelling through the open window of the van in the driveway, “Hurry up, we still have to make it through security before our flight!”

“Flight?”

“Yeah, Mom.” Rocki grabbed two duffel-bags that were sitting out of sight, around by the door that lead to the cupboard under the stairs, handing her one. “This is yours.”

“How long are we going to be there?” She looked at the bag that was practically shoved into her hand.

“Just the night.” Stephanie filled her in as she literally shoved her out the door; Rocki following and locking up behind them. “We’ll be staying the night with Aunt Becky and Uncle Jesse.”

“Do we even have plane tickets?”

“Yup,” Rocki shoved her phone into her mom’s face, revealing their digital boarding passes.

“But what show are we seeing?” Gia asked Stephanie, “And why am I just hearing about it now?”

“It was a... kinda last minute,” Her friend forced a suspicious smile.

“Rocki had our bags packed and enough time to --apparently-- steal my credit card and purchase tickets. It couldn't have been that last minute.”

Rocki, ready to jump in through the side entrance of the van, turned to her, “I didn't steal your credit card, the plane tickets were gifted to us,” she explained before hopping in.

Gia looked to Stephanie, “You didn't--”

“No I didn't pay for your ticket,” She interrupted her. “Seriously, don't worry about a thing, it's all covered.”

“By who?” Gia asked in bewilderment.

“A company that was giving away free tickets, that's who.”

“So you won them?”

“Oh my god, Gia,” Stephanie growled, “Just get in and enjoy the adventure.” She pushed her into the van where the woman found Kimmy in the passenger seat next to DJ who was driving; Rocki was already in the back, grabbing her mom's bag as she fell into the centre bucket seat, only to be shoved over to the seat beside her by Stephanie as she jumped in behind her.

“Let's go!” Stephanie pulled the door closed and clasped DJ on the shoulder.

Gia, still stunned and confused, wondered what they were going to see. All she could think of was that some band was touring and they weren't hitting San Francisco, or more probably, based off everyone's fancy attire, it was a theatre performance of some kind. Stephanie and DJ's family worked in the entertainment industry in LA, perhaps they had gotten a bunch of tickets or something.

Gia then looked around at everyone in the vehicle, who seemed very content. Too content. “I'm literally the only person who doesn’t know where we’re going. Why?”

Stephanie sighed, “Fine. Okay, I'll tell you. It's a birthday gift to you. Satisfied?”

“My birthday's not for another three weeks.”

“Yes,” Stephanie smiled, “But this show, with it's free tickets, is not on in three weeks, it's on now.”

Gia thought it over and accepted her answer, not being able to come up with any reason to doubt it. The Tanner's got tickets, Stephanie thought of her and her upcoming birthday, so she invited her and Rocki to join in. “Okay,” The brunette looked to her friend.

Stephanie broke into a smile as she nodded and said back, “Okay!”

Then Gia cracked a grin and cheered, “We're going to LA!”

“We're going to LA!” Stephanie repeated her again, and in a similar manner as the whole car cheered, minus Rocki who just rolled her eyes at the lot.

Spirits were high the whole trip from San Francisco International airport, through the short hour and a half flight to L.A.X.

They soon found themselves with their carry on bags in hand as they walked out to the taxi pick up location. There they found a chauffeur standing in front of a limo with a sign that read 'Tanner Family' on it.

“Shmancy,” Rocki mumbled when she saw their ride.

“Yeah.” Gia's suspicions went up again in reaction to their mode of transportation.

DJ then commented. “Well, you know what they say. Limos are practically the same price as taxis now a days.”

Gia shrugged, “I guess.” while not being entirely convenience, before they all piled in the limo.

Watching through the car window, Gia realised just how much traffic there was on the roads. She'd been to LA quite a few times in her life, and knew road congestion was more extreme there than back home, but for some reason it seemed even worse than she'd remembered.

After about forty-five minutes on the road, they pulled into a line of limos that seemed to be taking turns dropping people off at a large building that was up ahead. While they were in the cue, a sign caught Gia's eyes. On the building wall to their side, projected in huge green letters, read 'Los Angeles Fashion Week'.

Her stomach instantly started to knot. Were they going to a fashion show? It sure seemed like it. Michelle had connections in the fashion industry. Did Michelle give her family tickets? Gia's head started to race with questions.

The limo had pulled up to the entrance, where the driver hopped out and came around to open the door for them. “Ladies We've arrived,” he announced.

As DJ, Kimmy, and Stephanie exited the vehicle, Gia snatched Rocki's arm and pulled her close. “Kay, Kid, you better start talking. Is you-know-who behind this?”

“Voldemort?” Rocki asked cheekily. Gia glared her down for her retort, where the girl remover her mother's grasp of her, then ignored her as she crawled out of the car. Gia growled under her breath as she followed after.

A woman wearing professional attire and a headset approached them. “You are the Tanners, correct?”

Stephanie responded, “Yeah. More or less,” she smiled.

“Okay,” The woman said plainly. “So, you can leave whatever personal items you don't wish to carry, in the car. This limo is yours for the evening, so they won't be touched. And if you're ready, could you please follow me, I'll show you in and to your seats.” She came across as all-business, and in a rush as well. Like they were just one out of a list full of things that she still had to deal with.

Gia had barely paid attention to the lady though, as her eyes were fixated on the red carpet that lead into the building, and the fact that she could see Heidi Klum posing for a bunch of photographers on it, with Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds following up behind her.

She then felt a hand squeeze hers. “Mom,” Rocki calmly leaned into her mother, “You're seeing this too, right?”

“Welcome to LA,” She said as she looked to her daughter. Rocki then turned to her mom and smiled before the two had realised that their party was already wandering off without them. “Come on,” Gia chuckled as she pulled Rocki along to rejoin the group.

They were led right past the celebrities on the red carpet, sneaking behind the photographers. Gia caught a glimpse of Rocki waving at Ryan and Blake as they passed, where both her and Rocki were pleasantly surprised when the couple waved back at her.

“Did you see that?” Rocki whisper-yelled into her ear.

Gia laughed, “Yeah. I saw.”

They entered a huge foyer with a three storey ceiling that was just one big glass dome skylight. In front of them lay a majestic marble stairway that split into two that lead up to the second floor on either end. The space was packed full with people, Gia still had Rocki's hand as she was counting on her to guide her along with the pack as she tried to see who else famous she could spot. Unfortunately, Rocki seemed to have had the same idea, where Gia had to snap out of it and pay heed as she nearly lost the three blondes in the crowd. “Rocki,” she simply said as she yanked her daughter again, catching up with them, as they were being escorted towards a large door at the end of a wide hallway.

Inside, a large room with stacked platforms and chairs lined up on top of them, surrounded three sides of a catwalk. The seats were nearly all filled up already.

“This way,” Their guide had waved them over to continue following. They were led to the front of the runway and down to the end where the models would first step out onto it.

As they approached their seats, Gia had caught sight of a few familiar faces already there. Danny Tanner and his brother-in-law and sister-in-law Jesse and Becky, were seated with warm welcoming smiles next to their empty chairs in the front row.

“Dad!” DJ cheered as she and Stephanie went in for a hug.

“Hey, girls” He squeezed them back.

“Don't forget about me too, Mr. Tanner,” Kimmy jumped in on the embrace.

Danny sighed, “Oh, Kimmy, trust me, I've tried to forget you. It just never seems to work.”

“Gia Mahan,” Jesse said while eying her. “I haven't seen you since that time you hid your high-school boyfriend's motorcycle in our garage, and the cops came to our door looking for it.”

“Wait, what now?” Rocki darted her eyes to her mother.

“Yeah, that was my first time in the back of a police cruiser,” Gia smiled at the memory.

“Mom?”

Gia, ignored her daughter as she studied both Jesse and Becky, in that moments realising just how much impact the couple had on her sexual awakening as a teenager, thinking back on how hard she had crushed on the both of them. She then smiled before saying, “Man, you two look exactly the same as I remember.”

Jesse turned to his wife, “See, this is why I always liked her.” He then looked to Rocki. “Don't worry, Kiddo, I'll fill you in on all the delinquent activities your mother got into at your age.”

“Don't leave out any details. I need both ideas and excuses for misbehaving.”

The man laughed, “Yeah, if you ever get into trouble you can say things like, 'but at least I didn't start a fire in the girl's bathroom at school'.” Gia chuckled and rolled her eyes just as the lights started to dim in the room.

“Come on, Gia,” Stephanie pushed her over to the very end of the row, “It's about to start,” she whispered as she practically yanked her down to sit in the spot between her and Rocki. The room then quickly fell silent.

A video started playing, projecting onto a large screen at the front of the catwalk. Music played over it as sweeping images of what looked like a South Asian country flashed before their eyes. Women were seen dying fabrics and others were seen sewing in a factory. Soon a middle aged man and woman became the focus on screen. The woman started to talk, with a thick accent, “My name?” she had asked with a beautiful laugh, as it seemed that someone from behind the camera had prompted her to introduce herself. The woman then looked into the camera and continued, “I am Hansani, and this is my husband Paradeep, and this is our factory. This factory was originally my father's and after I married, it was given to my husband. But I told Paradeep if he did not let me run it with him by my side, I would not marry him.” She laughed again where her husband looked at her with a proud smile. The video then continued to show more images of the clean and contemporary looking factory as her voice became the narration of the video. “I said to my husband, we must pay our employees more than my father had, and make sure our facilities are safe with proper equipment. We didn't think we could do it. It is hard to find contracts when we demand more than all our neighbours. But, namo Buddhaya, we started to find companies in the west who shared our same vision. Of wanting better for those who make their clothing. Better for places like here in Sri Lanka. We have been a part of the ethical clothing movement for six years now, and we love it. It's changed so many lives. Our workers can afford proper homes and put food on their families' table, where many could not do so before.” The image then panned over a bunch of sewing tables where the camera stilled itself as a number of employees looked up and waved before it fell back onto the owners, “We are very happy to now be working with our new friends,” She smiled and looked again off camera before looking forwards, “and we hope to work with others in the future too.” Then her husband jumped in, “Yes, please contact us, we would love your business,” Hansani giggled, “Yes, listen to my husband,” where you could then hear the people behind the camera laughing along too. The music faded as the image dipped to black, then the screen displayed the factory's contact information.

All of Gia's suspicions were confirmed in that video. She knew exactly where she was; who's show they were seeing. A spotlight then turned on, shining at the back of the runway as a tall slim figure walked out. Gia could hear her heart pounding, her gaze then fell onto the woman's face that was only a couple metres away from her, elevated up on the stage. Gia gulped, forgetting just how stunning the other woman was, her hair fell down her back as it swept away from her face, with it tucked behind her ears. She wore a long flowing skirt that looked to have the same colourful pattern on it as the lining of Rocki's jacket had. Accompanying the skirt was a light blue crop-top that had something written on it, but the woman was standing at a inopportune angle to read it.

The woman lifted a microphone to her mouth before starting. “Hello,” She smiled, “I'm Michelle Tanner, and I would like to welcome you to experience my new ethical clothing line.”

From the other side of the room their were loud cheers where someone had even yelled, “Yeah, Michelle!” Gia had assumed that they were probably her friends from the fashion world.

The blonde chuckled before continuing. “All the fabrics that you will be seeing tonight were manufactured in Colorado. The cotton is all American supplied and the Hemp is from Canada; both are organically grown. The fabric was dyed and printed by the amazing people at Hansani's and Paradeep's factory in Sri Lanka. They are also in line to sew my retail collection. And as for my textile pattern designs...,” Michelle then paused to turn to the side, now facing them. The blonde put up her hand, that held the microphone, over her eyes as to block out the bright light, as she gestured with her other hand, as if she wanted someone to go up there with her. Before Gia could figure out what was going on, Rocki bounded out of her seat and up the stairs, that were nearly right in front of them, and hopped up on stage next to Michelle.

The blonde lovingly wrapped her arm around Rockie, grabbing her shoulder from across her body as she hugged her close in front of her. “All the amazing patterns you're going to see have been designed by this talented sixteen-year-old here, Rocki Mahan.”

“Woo! yeah Rocki!” That same voice came from across the room, where the teen beamed as she gave the sign of the horns with her hand towards the person. The audience laughed and clapped in response to the girl.

Gia shook her head out of disbelief. She didn't know if she wanted to significantly raise her daughters allowance, or ground her for two year straight. Rocki had not only been in communication with Michelle, but was clearly participating in her shifting career, all while neither of them had bothered to tell her about it.

Michelle then kicked her foot out to the side as she said, “All our models today will be wearing shoes that are made from old recycled carpets by a small business that is run by an all female village in Ethiopia.” The woman displayed a flat sandals that were roped around her feet in a gladiator style. “If you're interested in purchasing a pair to help their village, there will be a table set up out in the foyer after the show.” Michelle then scanned the room before she took in a deep breath and said, “Well, how about we get these clothes on the runway. I hope you all enjoy show!” The room applauded once again as Michelle took Rocki's hand and led her backstage.

Gia clapped Stephanie's leg so hard and fast that her friend nearly jumped out of her seat next to her. “What the hell, Steph?” The brunette demanded answers from her.

“First of all, owe,” The blonde spoke quietly, “And secondly, you really should have called my little sister.”

“Reeeeally?” Gia growled through clenched teeth, “You too?” The woman was getting really tired of hearing that.

Stephanie gave her a smart-ass smile as she peeled Gia's hand off her thigh. “Watch the show,” the blonde gestured at the stage before she turned away to ignore her.

Gia shook her head at Stephanie before she looked to the runway to see a beautiful curvy woman come out, with skin so dark it looked as if it were angelically glowing purple. She wore long tailored shorts and a cute moto-jacket, that were both white with purple, blue, and green skulls layered all over them. You wouldn't have been able to make out the pattern from the distance that they were at, but Gia recognised the shapes. Rocki doodled those skulls everywhere.

The room applauded and cameras flashed, while Gia's body started to shake. Her gaze shifted off the first model as a new one had entered. The second one had a short patterned skirt on that exposed the model's unique gold coloured prosthetic leg. The pretty girl with the amputation was also wearing a shirt that looked like the one both Michelle and Rocki were wearing, but this time she could make out what it had said. In big, stylised letters it read 'Rocks and Shells'. Gia's eyes became instantly wet as tears started escaping down her cheeks.

Michelle and Rocki had done it. That little conversation in the backyard at the Tanner's home had come into existence. Michelle had somehow managed to get support and find these ethical businesses to make her dream fashion line with, and present them at such a prestigious venue too, while in such a small amount of time. Michelle had even included Rocki. Gia was forced to wipe her eyes with her hand as the tears had come so heavily now. Her anger with the two of them for not letting her in on their project was far outweighed by the sense of pride she had in them, and how much she just hopelessly loved them. As the models had come and gone down the catwalk, Gia was reminded of Rocki and how she had been beaming when she was on stage with Michelle, and how Michelle had wrapped her in tight to her, like Rocki was her appendage. That bond was shining through as she examined the garments. The clothing was an amalgamation of the two of them. Summer-child tailoring by Michelle, urban-punk patterning by Rocki, and it had looked fantastic.

After somewhere between five and ten minutes had passed, all the models walked back onto the stage, one after another in a line. The room got louder with applause as the cue of women strutted down the runway. At the end of the line both Michelle and Rocki came out, holding hands, to walk the stage together, where the room got to their feet and cheered. Gia couldn't help but grin as she stood up to applaud. She could hear Michelle's family next to her cheering and calling out to her as she passed by and out to the end of the catwalk. Normally Gia was one who would yell and cheer, but her emotions were too overwhelming. Especially when Michelle and Rocki turned around and started back down the stage, where Gia stopped mid-clap and just held her hands together as her heart raced while they walked towards their end to exit. Luckily the lights seemed too bright for them to see her teary and frozen, because they were looking out passed them as they turned to take a bow before exiting.

The house lights then came up, the room in an instant chatter. Gia closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, holding it in for a few seconds before blowing it out, her chin resting on her hands that were still clasped.

She then felt arms wrap around her. “So, was this a good surprise or what?” Stephanie hugged her while swaying her back and forth. Gia turned to her friend as the blonde scrunched her face at her. “You kinda look stunned.”

“What just happened?” Gia asked in bewilderment.

Stephanie smiled, “Well, a couple months ago Michelle talked to her boss about leaving the company and wanting to start her own back home, and apparently her boss was very supportive and got her connected with investor that she knew would share her same vision. Fast-forward to today, we're at an all expense paid trip to Los Angeles Fashion Week and we just watched Michelle's debut clothing line.”

“And Rocki?”

“And I,” Rocki popped up from behind Gia, making Stephanie let go of her so that she could turn around to look at her daughter. “I got a text from Michelle about two weeks after she left San Francisco, asking if I could send her some of my sketches. Then that kind of turned into us texting nearly everyday about the line as well as other stuff.”

Gia's eyes widened, “Everyday?”

“Mom, she's really great, and please don't be mad at her… or me. We wanted to surprise you.”

Gia sighed before letting out a chuckle while reaching for Rocki; hugging her tightly, “I'm not mad. What I am is proud, proud of you. Your drawings looked amazing on those clothes.”

“Thanks,” The teen pulled away, “Okay,” she smiled and nodded, “Let's go,” She then abruptly grabbed her mom's hand and dragged her away and up the stairs onto the runway.

“Wait, what are-,” She nearly tripped behind Rocki, “Are we even allowed...” Rocki then pulled her back-stage, “-back here?”

“Of course we are,” Rocki smiled while towing her through a small crowd that consisted of model's changing, people hoisting clothing and boxes in their arms, as well as various women pushing clothing racks past them.

The girl was relentless as she promptly tugged her along. Gia's arm was starting to hurt by all the grabbing and yanking that people were doing to her that evening. Rocki then veered them off to an open door at the back, stepping through into a sizeable room that was being used as storage. There were clothing racks, boxes, and old makeup tables with mirrors pushed to the sides of the walls, and what looked like stage extenders piled up on top of one another at the back of the space.

In the middle of the room a man was standing over Michelle who was crouched over with her back towards them, rummaging through a large handbag. “But I still don't understand how you lost her number if it was in your phone. Seriously, Marcus, how does one accidentally delete a contact? And why can't I find my phone?” She muttered into her oversized purse.

The man looked up at the two who had just entered, then smiled as he addressed Michelle. “I didn't actually lose her number, and she doesn’t actually need you to call her right now.”

Michelle's head jerked up to look at him, “What? But you said--”

“I just needed an excuse to steal you away.” He interrupted her, then addressed the new arrivals, “Hey, Rocki, you sure got her here fast.” Michelle then cranked her head back, almost falling over, as she speedily stood up at the sight of them. Marcus then stepped towards the two girls and looked Gia over before nodding, “I get it now.” He then extended his arm for Rocki to grab hold of. “Come on, kid, let's go find us some free shoes and handbags out there.” Without hesitation, the girl linked arms with him and they left the room, closing the door behind them.

Michelle brushed her palms nervously against her long flowing skirt as she breathed out in a small voice, “Hey.”

“Hey,” Gia responded in a similar tone. They stared at each other for an awkward moment before the brunette continued, “so, you stole my kid and started a fashion empire with her behind my back.”

Michelle's eyes widened as she started blurting out in a panic, “I am so sorry. I should have told you. It was stupid to keep it a secret. I just didn't know how to tell you or if you even actually still cared about my dream company or the fact that I'm relocating back to San Francisco--”

Gia moved in, putting a hand across her mouth, silencing her; not being able to stand the nonsense that she was spouting. The brunette smiled, “Oh my god, stop. You did nothing wrong.” She removed her hand from her face, “Of course I still care about your dream company and you moving back home. You have no idea how much I care.” Gia's smile then fell, “I'm the one who screwed up,” She felt her guilt weighing on her again, “I'm the one who should be saying sorry. I was the one who never called.” She sighed as her head fell, “well, actually, I did finally try calling you earlier this evening, after I was on some stupid date.” Her eyes were fixed on the floor as she continued, “The guy I went out with… he meant nothing to me. I should have never gone out with him. I should have waited for you.” Her eyes welled as her voice started to shake, “all I wanted was you, and I screwed it up by--”

“--Oh my god, stop. I don't care about him,” Michelle muttered as she lifted Gia's chin with her index finger before kissing her tenderly.

Gia's heart skipped a beat as she seemed to just melt into the other woman's touch while Michelle slid her hand gently behind Gia's neck and wrapped her other arm around her waist. The brunette then moved to wrap her arms around Michelle's back before their lips parted and they rested their foreheads together.

Gia's eyelids fluttered open to catch Michelle's beautiful green eyes already looking at her. Michelle smiled where Gia couldn't help but beam back at her as she asked, “so you're really moving back home?”

Michelle bit down on her smile that was growing, and scrunched her nose before she answered, “Yeah. I hired a moving company. The truck is scheduled to arrive at the house this Wednesday.”

“'The house' as in your old house with your sisters?”

“Yeah, the girls are giving me the basement until I find another place.”

Gia smirked as she said cheekily, “you know it's really not that hard to find my place when you've already been there.”

Michelle giggled and said in a teasing tone, “I don't know about that. I don't remember your place having a pool. I've always had a hard time remembering how to find places without pools.”

“A pool? Wow, your standards are high,” Gia smiled before gently kissing her.

Michelle broke away from her temporarily to murmur, “You have no idea.” before she pulled Gia in tightly and made connection again, this time sliding her tongue inside Gia's mouth.

The brunette clung to Michelle, her hands tangling in her hair as she grabbed at her shoulders and back while meeting the blonde's tongue with her own. Gia's stomach did somersaults as she pressed her body as closely as she possibly could into the other woman, wishing that she could somehow touch every inch of her body to Michelle's.

This is what Gia had remember, her skin tingling at Michelle's touch. Her hunger for the other woman's lips, like she were suffocating and Michelle's mouth was her only air supply. No one had ever made her feel like this. This was different. Michelle was different. This woman who had made a promise to her that she'd make everything right, actually followed through. She was moving back home. They now had a real chance. A chance to become a family; her, Rocki and Michelle. In that moment Gia was adamant in making sure that her efforts from then on were to secure Michelle into their lives. She knew she couldn't lose her, not again.

Gia pulled her mouth away briefly enough to mumble out, “above ground or in ground?” before capturing her lips once again.

“Huh?” Michelle moaned out her question of clarification inside Gia's mouth.

“The pool... that I'm now... needing to get,” The brunette said between kisses.

Michelle giggled as she pulled her head away to look at Gia, studying her face momentarily before asking, “Would you really get a pool for me?” Michelle gently brought her hand to caress Gia's face, her thumb softly moving across her cheek. The brunette subconsciously tilted her head into her hand, her touch sending ripples down her neck as she briefly closed her eyes.

Gia brought her hand to the one that was on her face, not wanting to remove it from its current place but knowing that it was too distracting where it was. Gia laced her fingers with Michelle's lowering their intertwined hands down beside them. “Are you really moving back to San Francisco because of me?” Gia asked in all seriousness.

Michelle bore her gaze into Gia's eyes as she spoke with purpose, “I wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for you. You gave me a reason to face my fears and fight for what I wanted. Yes I'm moving back because of you. I'm also moving back because I want to be with you.”

Gia's eyes were brimming with tears as she smiled and nodded, “Of course I'd really get a pool for you.”

Michelle burst out with laughter before she let go of Gia's hand and threw her arms around her in a hug, burrowing her face into her neck. Gia chuckled as she wrapped her arms around her and pulled her in close. Michelle sighed in contentment before she said in a small voice, “I don't need a pool. I just need you.”

Gia placed her hand on top of Michelle's head where she started combing through her hair with her fingers. “You've got me,” She said where the blonde responded to her words by giving her a soft lingering kiss on her neck.

They must have stood there for at least two minutes in silence, just holding each other. Gia could feel Michelle gradually leaning more heavily against her as her breath slowed and deepened. Gia realised that the other woman must have been exhausted. She couldn't imagine all the preparation that she would have had to put into her show and her new company. There was a good chance that she hadn't slept much in the days, possibly even the weeks, leading up to that evening.

Gia just smiled as she held the other woman up, still gently raking her fingers through the woman's long blonde hair until they heard a quick frantic knock at the door. “Play time's over!” came Marcus's voice as he flung open the door, Michelle's head jerking up off Gia’s shoulder in response to his sudden arrival. “Marie Claire's here, Elle's here, and Lauren Lodtz herself is looking for you.” The man said as he and Rocki had walked in.

“Again,” Rocki address Marcus in annoyance, “for like the third time now, who is Lauren Lodtz?”

Michelle's eyes widened as she took a small step back from Gia, yet still keeping contact with her as her hands now rested on her shoulders. “Vogue,” she exhaled in a whisper, like she couldn't believe it.

Gia turned the both of them, guiding Michelle with her hands that now lay on her hips, so she could see the two that were just previously behind her.

Marcus then went on to explained with emphasis to the teen, “Not just Vogue but Lauren is Anna Wintour's main fashion scout.” He then looked to Michelle, “You got Gold-Card VIP Vogue here, Sister, so you better get your cute butt out there and dazzle those gatekeepers of the great sacred fashion manuscripts,” He then did the Catholic sign of the cross with his hand to dramatise his words. “Also, I heard through the assistance grapevine that that French photographer --what's her name?-- that you like so much is on her way to the Road-Grung after party, so if you want to make contact with her, we should leave soon before they get to over capacity and close the doors.”

Michelle nodded her head vigorously as she seemed to be trying to pump herself up with some energy, “This is never ending,” She smiled with a sigh, yet here eyes were radiating joy.

“This is owning your own business,” he said. “Welcome to the big leagues.”

Michelle then turned to look at Gia, but just as she was about to open her mouth, the brunette held up her hand to stop her. “Go,” she smiled at the blonde, “dazzle, network, do what you have to do. Rocki and I will catch you later.”

“You don't want to come to a crazy Fashion Week after party?” Michelle asked Gia.

Rocki jumped in, “Oh, Mom, please. And can I come too?” She begged.

Marcus then chimed in, “Ah,” he sounded concern, “They nicknamed this particular after event, ‘The Christmas Party’ because there's so much cocaine in there it looks like the place is covered in snow.”

Gia smirked at Rocki, “Yeah, not happening. Remember our deal. No hard drug addictions until I get us on a better health insurance plan.”

Rocki sighed, “Yeah, Okay. Fine.”

Gia then looked back to a smirking Michelle. “Next time. When you're not busy stalking french girls, and you're free to dance and make snow angels in the cocaine with me, I'll come.”

Michelle giggled at her before nodding, “Deal.”

“Now go,” Gia started pushing her off towards the door.

Marcus reached for the blonde's hand, “Yes,” he said while he tugged her over, “Listen to your smart, beautiful and funny future wife, and come with me,” he hastily dragged her out the door and continued to say as they walked out, “Seriously Michelle, if I weren’t flaming to the point that I have to stop drop and roll, I'd steal her away from you.” Gia smirked at the man's words, finding it a great complement that Michelle's friend approved of her.

“I'll see you guys later!” Gia could hear Michelle calling out at them, already from quite a far distance, as she disappeared into the crowd of the backstage area, on her way out to the runway.

Rocki then looked to her mother as she smirked and crossed her arms, “mission accomplished.”

“Yeah the show seemed to be a big success.”

“Not the show,” Rocki scoffed but then lightly and quickly added, “Well, yes the show too,” she then continued with her initial thought, “But I was talking about you and Michelle.” Gia tried to hide her smile as she rolled her eyes. “Not that I'm surprised. You guys were doomed from the start.”

Gia looked at her daughter with a furrowed brow as she repeated in bafflement, “Doomed?”

“Not doomed' as in 'doomed to fail', 'doomed' as in 'inevitable'.” Rocki sighed, “look, don't rail me on my vocabulary choices 'cause there's no way I was going to say the word 'destined' in that sentence. I'm no Stephanie Meyer book here.”

Gia smirked as she walked up to her daughter; throwing an arm around her shoulder, “You know I once found a library copy of Twilight shoved between the towels in our bathroom.”

Rocki's eyes widened as she said, “That could have been anybodies. No way to prove it was mine. Also, it was probably there ironically.”

Gia chuckled as she turned Rocki around to leave, “How about we go catch up with the rest of the gang?”

“Can we accidentally bump into Ryan Reynolds first? I saw him out there.”

“Of course we can,” Gia said as she began pushing her forwards, “I'll trip you so hard into him, because I love you so very much.”

Rocki smirked, “Thanks, Mom,” as they began their way back out to the main room.

Gia bit her lip trying to conceal a grin as she was elated in that moment; her heart fluttered and she had a bounce in her step. The woman whom she had loved, had chosen her. She chose to be with her. Not for convenience or to fight off boredom, like nearly all her other relationships had been about, but because Michelle genuinely liked her and thought she was worth fighting to be with.

Before they had walked out on the runway, Rocki had turned to her and smiled, “You're glowing, you know that?”

Gia looked at her and beamed, “You were right.”

“I normally am, but what in particular are you referring to?”

“You were right about it being different this time.”

Rocki smirked and nodded her head, “Yeah, I know.” She then bounded ahead of her mom and out to the main room. “Come on!” Rocki called back to her, “I want to meet Deadpool!”

Gia giggled as she ran out to catch up with her ridiculously remarkable daughter. Excited that their quirky duo was on the path to becoming a zany trio. Knowing the addition of Michelle was going to make an already great thing even better.


	7. Chapter 7

It was around three in the morning when Michelle climbed out of her Uber, that had pulled up to the back of her Aunt Becky and Uncle Jesse's Los Angeles house. She had been staying there for the week leading up to her show. They had given her the suite above their garage, which had an exterior entrance at the top of a wooden stairway. The young woman had greatly appreciated staying with the couple, where she was able to catch up with them and share an early breakfast with the two every morning during her stay. Not that she saw them much beyond that, she was always the first out the door and the last to get in. She was lucky if she'd gotten three hours of sleep during any given night that past week.

She noticed the kitchen lights on through the back window, making her wonder if people were still up in the house. She decided to first go up to her room and get sorted before investigating inside the house. She climbed the stairs and entered the suit; dropping about six bags and her purse at the side of the door. She then proceeded to dump the contents of her large handbag out onto the floor, happy to finally find her phone, which was now very dead. Sighing, she walked over to her charger by her bed, plugging it in to find twenty eight missed messages. She quickly scrolled through her notifications; most of them being texts from friends congratulating her on her show, some were questions that were no longer applicable from the intern that was assigned to her for the week, and lastly one, which she was now fixated on, was the missed call from Gia.

Michelle couldn't help but tear up a bit at seeing the woman's name on her screen. Knowing now, without a doubt, that Gia had reached out to her completely independent of Michelle's grandiose gesture.

The blonde smiled, using her joy in that moment to fuel her exhausted body and push herself into the washroom, wanting to take a quick five minute shower to hose down her body and scrub off the layers of makeup that was applied to her face, as well as brush her teeth.

Soon she found herself quietly entering through the backdoor of the kitchen, barefoot, pyjamas on, and her hair up in a messy bun, still from when she had tied it back for her shower. She heard voices where she had followed them into the living room. There sat Rocki, Jesse, and Becky on the sofa, DJ on the recliner chair with Kimmy leaning up against it on the floor, and Stephanie and Gia on the love seat opposite the sofa. They were all in their sleepwear too, pleasantly conversing with one another.

“You're back!” DJ blurted out at her youngest sister with excitement as she bounced up to her feet. “And you already look ready for bed?” She tilted her head, as if she were confused as to why she'd not come straight in to see them.

Michelle nodded her head, “Yeah, I got in hours ago. Took a long nap, and just came down here for a snack. Honestly, I totally forgot you guys were here.”

“You're joking,” DJ pointed at her with a tight smile as she approached her. Deciding to ignore the comment, she moved on to acknowledge her own excitement while she practically squealed, “I'm so proud of you.” She hugged her, swaying her back and forth. “Your show was spectacular.”

“Hey. Alright, our turn,” Jesse shooed off his eldest niece as he and her aunt approached and then squeezed her from both sides in a loving embrace.

“We knew you could do it,” Becky said to her, which really resonated with the girl as her aunt was the one who had picked her spirits up the morning before, when Michelle was in full blown panic mode about her show.

“Thanks guys,” She kissed both of them on the cheek in great appreciation for their support.

Michelle then broke contact with them and walked over to Stephanie who was still sitting on the loveseat next to Gia. “Don't I get a hug from my other big sister?”

“Of course,” Stephanie stood up and hugged her, where Michelle then speedily maneuvered her around, away from the couch where she then proceeded to steal her spot. Sliding in right next to Gia, the brunette was quick to wrap her arms around her new sofa companion while Michelle simultaneously moved to envelope Gia's waist; pulling her knees up to rest her feet on the sofa as her entire body completely fell into the shorter woman's side.

“How rude,” Stephanie huffed. “I'm being used by my own sister for my best friend.”

Gia chuckled at Stephanie as she raised her hand to Michelle's head, pulling it lovingly down to rest it on her shoulder. Michelle sighed; closing her eyes and sinking even further into the other woman's body.

“So did we get Joëlle Bisset?” Michelle heard Rocki ask.

Her eyes still closed, too tired to open them, she murmured a reply through a satisfied smile, “Yeah, I think we got her.”

“Cool,” The teen said with a pleased tone to her response. “BTW,” she continued, “How open are you to having Chloë Grace Moretz model for us? 'Cause she approached me and said that she really wants to get involved with the line. She even gave me her phone number.”

Michelle cracked an eye open as she beamed at the girl, “Wow, look at you. Bringing in all the cool young celebrities. I knew you'd be a good choice to make partner.”

“Don’t be throwing the word ‘partner’ around unless you really mean it,” The teen warned her.

“I do mean it, after you turn eighteen and graduate high school, that is.” Michelle closed her spying eye at the sight of Rocki's face splitting into a grin. “We need to make sure you've got employment so your mother can leach off of you when she gets old and useless.” Michelle continued with a smirk.

Gia pulled Michelle in tighter, “Yup, I picked a winner here,” she kissed the top of the blonde's head.

“Oh-o-kay,” DJ said in annoyance, obviously not completely happy with Gia 'the pebble in her shoe’ Mahan becoming such an important person in her youngest sister's life. “It's really late, and Michelle is clearly falling asleep here, so how about we call it a night.”

“Yeah, alright,” Stephanie said, “Besides, I don't have a spot to sit down here anymore.”

Everyone else seemed to agree as well; welcoming the idea of bedtime while they started to drag themselves to their feet; slowly disappearing up the stairs. The second floor held Jesse and Becky's bedroom, as well as a spare bedroom, and both Nicky and Alex's rooms, which were presently abandoned while they were off to college. The only two who didn't budge from their spots were Michelle and Gia.

“Are you sleeping?” Gia muttered into Michelle's hair. It took a moment before Michelle hummed in response, blinking her heavy eyelids open as she lifted her head to look at the other woman. Gia smirked at her as she tucked a strand of hair, that had come loose from her bun, behind her ear. “You should go to bed.”

Michelle looked into Gia's beautiful shining eyes, not wanting to go anywhere without her. She then leaned in to capture the other woman's lips with her own in a soft lazy kiss. “Come with me,” Michelle muttered after parting their mouths.

Gia didn't say a word, she simply responded by getting up off the loveseat; pulling Michelle to her feet. Michelle stretched her arms up to the ceiling while yawning, before she took the shorter woman's hand and guided her out of the house and up the stairs to her suite.

Despite the lights being off in the room, they could easily see their way through the space due to the bright moonlight shining through the window. Michelle stilled them at the side of the huge California king sized bed before she sighed out loudly, “Bed,” letting go of Gia's hand and crashing face first onto the mattress.

Gia giggled at her as she herself crawled onto the bed, moving around her and to the top where the pillows lay. “Come on,” She took Michelle's hand and pulled her up to her; the blonde, bringing her knees under her body, crawled fully onto the mattress, collapsing beside Gia. The brunette then reached down to pull up the blanket that was tossed at the foot of the bed to cover them.

Just as the comforter hit their shoulders, Michelle took a hold of Gia's waist and pulled her backside into her stomach. She then warped her arm around her torso, resting her chin against the back of her head as she murmured, “Mine,” while breathing in the sweet scent of the other woman's hair.

“You sure are possessive when you're loopy with sleep deprivation,” Gia chuckled as she stroked her hand up and down over the arm that was holding her close, then stilling it as she grasped Michelle's hand in her own.

“Or maybe I'm just possessive about the most valuable things in my life,” Michelle's words trailed as she spoke, sleep almost taking her over in that very moment.

“Nah-ah,” Gia turned her body around to face her, “You're not allowed to fall asleep after saying that,” She pressed the blonde down onto her back as she cupped her face in her hands while pressing her mouth to Michelle's.

Despite Michelle's exhaustion, her body instantly reacted to the touch as she opened her mouth and idly met Gia's tongue with her own. Her hands laxly wrapped around the smaller woman's body, wanting to hug her closer, but not having much strength to do so. Gia then pushed her body firmly into Michelle's as if she were reading the taller woman's mind, which made the woman beneath moan in response to the additional contact. Michelle felt Gia smiling into their kiss before she left her mouth to feather a trail down her neck with her lips. “Oh god,” Michelle exhaled while grabbing at Gia's head, fingers tangling in brown hair, when she began to suck the skin at her pule point.

After a short while of intense breathing, Michelle's eyes began to tear as her body was in conflict of needing sleep while trying to rev itself up. “Gia, you're killing me,” She pleaded out in a small voice at the woman suckling at her neck.

Gia did not abruptly stop. No, like a little shit, she leisurely dragged her bottom lip up her throat to just below her jaw line, then slowly she made lingering kisses all the way to just below her ear before she spoke into it in the most innocent tone, “You should really be asleep right now. I don't know why you're still awake.”

Michelle huffed with a smile, “DJ was right all along. You truly are the worst.”

Gia giggled before she rolled over onto her side, facing away from her, while grabbing Michelle's arm, pulling her over into the position that they'd been in earlier. The sleepy woman dipped her head to lay a gentle kiss on Gia's cheek before she rested it back onto her pillow. Within a single minute Michelle had drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face.

The next thing Michelle had processed was a loud knocking sound. She groaned out a stretched as she heard Stephanie's voice calling, “Gia, assuming you're in there. We have to leave in half an hour for the airport.” The blonde cracked her eyes open to find a bright sun lit room with Gia pressed up against her side. “Are you guys sleeping?” Her sister's voice came again.

Gia pushed herself up, and hurriedly walked across the room to open the door and pop her head through to the other side. “Well, we’re not now,” The brunette said rather brightly for just being woken up. One could barely detect the snark it was so minimal.

“Huh,” Stephanie's voice carried from the outside, “This is definitely not the living-room couch that you were assigned to sleep on for the night.”

Gia answered in a simple yet prideful tone, “No, it is not.”

“I see that you're wearing your pyjamas.”

“One could conclude that I am at this time, yes.”

“At this time?” Stephanie's voice climbed an octave as she repeated her friend's statement, turning it into a question.

Gia then swung the door wide open so that Stephanie had view of a fully clothed Michelle, who was still lazily curled up in bed. Gia, in a flat tone of voice, looked over to Michelle and said, “Your sister wants to know if we had sex.”

Michelle, barely awake, smiled at their exchange before muttering in a sleep drenched voice, “Are we not having it right now?” She then yawned out, “I didn't even realise that we'd stopped.” She then rolled over to her side, facing away from the two; pulling her blanket snugly over her shoulders as she closed her eyes again.

“Ha, ha, very funny.” Stephanie said sarcastically. “And I wasn't wondering that,” she quickly added in as a clear fib. “Anyway, breakfast is on the table.” Michelle then heard her sister's voice trailing off at the sound of descending footsteps on the stairs, while she called out, “And like I said earlier, we leave in thirty minutes.”

Michelle then tossed herself back over to her other side as she caught sight of Gia closing the door. “You can't leave yet,” the blonde grumbled. “Stay.”

Gia smirked at her before she climbed back into bed, deciding to flop out onto her stomach like a starfish, right on top of Michelle; her head hanging off the blonde's shoulder. “Okay, I'll stay here forever, just like this.”

Michelle's body vibrated in laughter under the brunette who was squishing her into the mattress. She then blurted out in a playful manner, “No!” as she managed to flip her body onto her back, making Gia roll atop Michelle's stomach in the process.

Gia chuckled before she lifted herself up onto her elbows as she moved her head to hover over Michelle's. “You need to go back to sleep,” She suggested while she pushed messy blonde strands away from Michelle's face, before gently tracing her fingertips over the other woman's jaw line.

Through sleepy, blurred vision, Michelle looked into Gia's magnificent sapphire eyes that seemed to be smiling tenderly at her. The blonde then sighed, not wanting to part with her, yet realising that she must, “Yeah, I know. I'm attending a bunch of shows still today, and really don't need to be falling asleep during them.”

“So it's settled. Rest up, finish your weekend here, then I'll see you when you get back to San Francisco.” Gia then lowered her head and kissed her softly before she rolled off of her, and got out of bed.

Michelle tracked her movement as she said, in need to not break their connection, “I'll call you later.”

“You better.” Gia teased, “'Cause you still haven't called me back from when I phoned you yesterday.”

Michelle smiled, “I will. I promise.”

Gia walked backwards to the door, keeping her eyes fixed on the woman the entire time. She didn't say goodbye, instead she merely smiled at Michelle before exiting. Which seemed to come across as far more heartwarming than any verbal farwell would have.

Michelle closed her eyes, basking in her happiness. She was fighting for her dream job, which seemed to be on a path to success. The magazines that she'd met with the evening before had all approached her with positivity; one of them even offering to do a whole article about her up-and-coming business. However, what felt most important to her in that moment was that she was practically positive that she'd found and secured her family. She was completely euphoric in the idea of going through the rest of her life with Gia by her side, and Rocki and the rest of her relatives surrounding her. With pure love and contentment in her heart, she fell asleep once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter. Just really wanted to wrap up this LA stuff. I'm planning to write a "topper" chapter that takes place a few months in the future. I was wondering if i should make it a winter holidays chapter since we're in the season now. idk please let me know what you guys think.
> 
> Anyway, as always, thank you so much for reading and comments are always greatly great great goodly great appreciated!
> 
> Cheers!


	8. Chapter 8

Michelle practically tripped over a fabric roll as she walked over to a mannequin, before holding up a bolt of material to the black garment that was hanging off the dress form. She grunted in frustration, not liking the trimming. Turning around, she stepped onto an open container of pins, spilling them on the floor. “Ah!” She hopped over her mess in anger. “Are you kidding me?” She cursed her own work area.

For the past three months she'd been using the Tanner residence's basement as both her living space and her design studio. She looked about the room, moving-boxes and sewing supplies everywhere. Even her bed was covered with trims, fabrics, and various sleeve patterns. There were also loose threads pieces scattered across every inch of the floor. Her brain couldn't create in her overloaded disaster of a room. The small pocket of a basement was making her bonkers. She had deadlines to hit, and here she was scatterbrained and scared she wasn't going to meet them. Her business was taking off quicker than expected, which she was absolutely ecstatic for, but it didn't leave her much time to sort herself out.

“I hear yelling down there!” She heard Rocki's voice from the top of the stairs.

Michelle, desperate to get away from her current project, stomped up the stairs in frustration. “I can't work under these conditions!” Michelle passed Rocki and Jackson, who were sitting at the kitchen table busy with their school studies, as she walked over to the refrigerator; whipping it open to grab a bottle of water. “Are you done with your homework yet?” She asked Rocki before taking a sip of her drink, “I really need your opinion on something down there.”

“No, but I can go look quickly and be back up in less than a minute,” She flashed an innocent smile.

“Nah-ah, you know the deal. No design stuff when you have school work to do.”

“You're punishing yourself here.”

“No,” Michelle whined out like a petulant child, “you are punishing me here.” She then flopped her head onto the countertop where she could hear the girl chuckle at her. “I think my brain is broken,” she muttered into the laminate.

“Why don't you take a break?” Rocki suggested. “I'm almost done here. You can chill in the living room with Mom for a bit while I finish up.”

Michelle's head jerked up in surprise, “Your mom's here?”

“Yeah. I told her that she wasn't allowed to distract you because you have an upcoming deadline.” Michelle gasped in shock towards her words where the teen smirked, “Hey, if I'm not allowed to see your projects when I have school work, then you're not allowed to see Mom when you have a project.”

“I can't believe you're making me taste a dose of my own medicine,” She could barely hold back a smile towards the cheeky girl. “That's it,” Michelle started for the kitchen door in a dramatic tone, “I've had it! This is the last straw, young lady! I'm convincing your mother to send you far far away to a distant boarding school.” Michelle then pointed to her nephew, “You too Jackson! I know you're just an innocent bystander in all of this. But you're catching this wrath too, just for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time!”

The boy only gave her a lopsided grin before Rocki calmly retorted. “If I'm sent away, I can't help you with the problem you're having downstairs.”

Michelle glared at her through slitted eyes, “Okay, you got me there. Touché, sister. Touché.” She then stepped backwards through the door after she pointed to her own eyes with her index and middle fingers, then moving them to motion at Rocki as to tell her that she'd be watching her.

Just as the door shut with her on the other side, she quickly pushed it open again to stick her head through it; blurting; “Please hurry up though. Thanks, love ya!” She then yanked her head back and spun around to find Stephanie and DJ on the sofa, with Max resting in one of the armchair, and Gia sitting on the floor, on the opposite side of the coffee table, back turned from her, with a board game in session on the table.

They didn't seem to notice her entrance as DJ was hunched over the table; placing tiles on the board. “K-N-I-F-E. Knife!” She cheered excitedly. “That's five... six... seven... eleven,” she counted in a mutter. “Twelve points!” She loudly sang. “In your face, Max!” She aggressively clapped and pointed at her son before she'd realised her actions. “Oh,” her face scrunched in guilt. “Sorry, Honey. Mommy forgot her happy-family-fun rule again.”

“Sheez,” Max exclaimed, “Aunt Stephanie was right about you and Scrabble. Stepping on an innocent child to reach your high.” He shook his head at her. “Mom, I think you may have a problem.”

She smiled at him, lovingly patting his head as she sighed, “yeah,” in agreement.

Gia then placed a single piece down on the board, “Knifes.” She then said with fervour, “Oh, and look. It landed on a Triple Word Score.”

DJ glared at her in annoyance. “The plural of 'knife' is ' _knives_ '. 'Knifes' is not a word.”

Gia retorted, “Yes it is. Here, I'll use it in a sentence for you.” She straightened her back and waved her hands in the air, in a wash motion, like she were painting a headline before their eyes. “Justified woman knifes local veterinarian over Scrabble dispute.”

Michelle chuckled while knowing that she should step in before DJ pounced all over Gia. DJ's fists clenched while Stephanie placed a hand on her older sister's thigh, in a small attempts in holding her back. Before anyone could act beyond that point, Michelle abruptly asked, “You guys are all playing Scrabble?” She hoped to redirect as she walked over and sat down next to Gia on the floor.

Stephanie welcomed Michelle's deviation tactics and eagerly jumped in, gratefully answering her curiosity. “Well, Max and I were going to play,” she started to explain. “But as soon as DJ saw us setting up, she --of course-- insisted on joining in.”

DJ sang out, “I love family games night! Especially ones with words.” She nodded vigorously. “Learning is fun,” She swung her fist in a shovelling motion to emphasise her enthusiasm.

Michelle smirked as she looked to her girlfriend, placing a loving hand on her leg. “And how did they rope you into this?”

“They got me when I was vulnerable.” Gia grabbed Michelle's forearm, locking eyes with her as if she were describing a trauma event. “I tried to run to the basement and hide away with you, but Rocki didn't let me. This is all her fault.”

Michelle giggled, “Yeah, that one's a real ball buster. But don't worry, I already threatened her with boarding school in retaliation for her draconian ways.”

Gia let go of Michelle's arm to slide her hand around her back. “I hope you mentioned some place overseas,” she beamed, “Leaving us to be irresponsible with zero accountability.” Then with her free hand she pointed to the game in play, “Where we'll never find ourselves in situations like these ever again.”

Michelle grinned before she looked at the Scrabble board. “It can't be all bad though. It looks like you're doing pretty well here with this triple word score.”

“That doesn’t count,” DJ started up again.

“I don't know there, Deej,” Stephanie picked up her phone, quickly typing into it. “It's showing up in Google.”

“Search engines are not dictionaries! Check Webster or Oxford online.”

Gia sighed; rolling her eyes. “Don't bother. I no longer care,” She removed her tile before looking back to Michelle with pleading eyes. “Can you please take me away from this now?”

“You know what, Gia?” Max piped up, “I'm normally not one to side with you, but in this case, I see an exception, and fully support that my mother should be the one to be taken away from this, and not you.”

DJ threw her hand to her heart. “Ouch,” she gasped at her son. He then gave her a knowing look. “Okay,” the woman swallowed her pride. “No, that's fair. I'll admit it. I let my competitive nature rear its ugly head more than once tonight.”

The kitchen door then swung open, interrupting DJ's guilt confession. “Kay, Michelle. I'm done,” Rocki informed her.

“Yes!” Michelle sprang up to her feet and headed to the teen.

“Hey, wait!” Gia called out to them. “You can't just leave me here. I've already finished off my emergency flask!”

“We'll be right back,” Rocki smirked.

Stephanie then added, “Yeah, and I'll replenish your booze,” She pulled a vodka bottle out from between the seat cushions.

“You keep alcohol in the couch?” DJ asked with both shock and concern. “We have both children and teenagers in this household.”

“Relax. I just shoved it in here the moment before you sat down to play with us,” She handed the bottle to a now excited Gia. “Thirty years of playing board games with you has taught me to prepare,” she muttered the last part under her breath.

Michelle giggled as she guided Rocki through the door, and then practically shoving her down into the basement.

“This collar,” Michelle pointed at the dress as soon as they reached the bottom landing; then awkwardly stepped over supplies on the floor as she made her way towards it. “What the hell do I do with it? Everything seems wrong. Like a mandarin collar would probably be the most fitting, but I think it'll just look too basic with one.”

Rocki studied the garment, tilting her head as if she was trying on different looks in her mind's eye. “An old school lace collar?” She scrunched her face as if her own suggestion confused her. “Like, a curved collar that lays down on the top of the bodice.”

Michelle pictured what the girl was saying. “That might actually work.” She cocked her head, “But the only thing I fear is that it might make it look almost witchy or Addams family.” She then pointed to Rocki with purpose, “which are obviously both amazing things,” she turned back to the dress, “they just won't fit in with the rest of the collection.”

“But if the lace was in a bright colour it might.”

“A bright colour!” Michelle's eyes lit up. “Oh my god, that would totally work! It would pop off the black too!” She spun around to face the teen before she leaped at her in an attack hug. “Ah, you're a genius.” She shook her before kissing her dramatically on the cheek where Rocki laughed at her actions.

“Wow” Gia's voice carried from behind them. She slowly descended the stairs, looking out to the disaster of a room. “This is even worse than the last time I saw it.”

“Don't judge me,” Michelle sighed, letting go of Rocki, “I'm creating.” She then narrowed her gaze at her girlfriend, “and you were supposed to wait upstairs.”

“I could only take one swig of Stephanie's vodka 'cause I have to drive, okay?” She said defensively. “So I just straight up ran away before --you know-- I accidentally shoved my Scrabble tiles some place where DJ wouldn't be able to get at them. Well, not until after an unpleasant trip to the bathroom for her, that is.” Michelle rolled her eyes as Gia flashed her a innocent smile. Overall, Michelle was entertained by the two and their funny confrontational relationship. Though, secretly, she had hoped that one day in the future they'd relax around each other, and get on a bit better.

Gia then clapped her hands together. “Okay, are you guys ready to blow this joint? 'Cause I know I sure am.”

Michelle furrowed her brow in confusion. She hadn’t planned to go out anywhere that evening. On the contrary, Rocki basically had her under house arrest for the past four days. This was the first time she'd even had a chance to see Gia that week.

“Yup!” Rocki answered. “Come on, Michelle,” the teen took hold of her hand; dragging her up the stairs. “We have a surprise to show you.”

Michelle allowed the Mahans to sweep her away and bring her to their house, not having a clue in what they were up to. When she walked into the familiar home, Rocki bit down a smile before she linked her arm with Michelle's. “Okay, you ready for this?”

Michelle smiled in excitement, “I have no idea what 'this' is, but I yeah, I guess.”

Gia opened their basement door, flicking the lights on before she disappeared down the stairs. Rocki then pulled Michelle to follow her. Just as the blonde had full view of the lower level, she audibly gasped. “Oh. My. God,” Michelle's mouth fell open; her gaze sweeping over the sight before her eyes.

Their large open basement, that ran the whole square-footage of the house, had a huge table with a yardstick affixed to it, for measuring and cutting fabrics. Next to it was another sizeable table with a chair, perfect for a sewing machine. To the side of the room were three clothing racks on wheels, and a few dress mannequins, along with a whole empty shelving unit, perfect for sewing supplies.

Michelle was completely dumbfound as she let go of Rocki's arm; walking the space, running her hands over the tables; eyes welling up.

After a minute Rocki whispered to her mother, “I think we broke her.”

Rocki's comment snapped her out of her trance as she turned to them, “You guys... is this for me?” She stupidly asked, not quite coming to terms with it.

“Nah,” Gia smirked, “It's for my other girlfriend. We just wanted you to look it over and make sure it was a suitable set up for her --you know-- with you being into fashion design and all, it made sense to get your opinion.”

Michelle scrunched her face at her. “Shut up,” She bit her bottom lip, holding back a grin.

“Isn't that cutting table amazing?” Rocki bounded over to the mentioned furniture that Michelle was standing next to. “We found in on Craigslist. It came from 'Handloom House' before they shut down a few years back.”

“What?” She gasped, “I used to live in that store when I was your age,” The blonde turned back to the table, lovingly stroking over all the scissor marks that had left impressions in the wood.

Rocki grinned. “So, you like it?” Michelle giggled while nodding her head. “All of it?”

“Yeah,” Michelle felt hot tears run down her face, “All of it.” she quickly palmed them dry.

“Good,” the teen beamed, “So you can come work down here, in this giant space that's nowhere near your living space.”

“Because you're living space,” Gia jumped in, “will hopefully be upstairs,” she pulled a key out from her pocket, “with us?” She looked nervous as she held out the object towards Michelle.

“Are...” Michelle's sentenced trailed off before it had properly begun.

“Are we asking you to move in?” Rocki helped her out. “Yeah, we are.”

“Only if you want to!” Gia quickly added. “I mean, we don't want you to feel forced. You can still have full access to this work space whenever you want, whether you decide to move in or not.”

Michelle was beside herself, completely overjoyed. They'd joked about her moving in back when they were in LA, but now it was a real and tangible invitation. The only thing that was bothering her in that moment was how nervous her girlfriend had looked. With a grin growing on her face, Michelle quickly moved to Gia, folding her fingers around her hand that was holding out the key. She then leaned down to kiss her, sliding her free hand behind her neck.

“Is this a yes?” Rocki asked excitedly.

Michelle broke the kiss, looking over to find Rocki's face now right next to hers. Michelle giggled at her before letting go of Gia's neck to grab the teen's head, pushing her lips to her cheek after smiling, “yes, it's a yes.” Rocki's eyes sparkled as her face split into a grin. “I mean,” Michelle let go of the girl, “it's a yes as long as this is just my pre-surprise and the real surprise is actually a pool out in the backyard,” Michelle flashed a cheeky grin at Gia.

Gia let go of Michelle's hand; pressing the key into the other woman's palm. “You're impossible,” she chuckled; cupping the blonde's face with both her hands, guiding Michelle's lips back to her own. The blonde giggled into their kiss before deepening it; wrapping her arms around the shorter woman's body.

“Okay, I'm-ah just gonna go now,” Rocki said awkwardly. She then bounded up the stairs, but before she closed the door at the top, she yelled, “Mom, I'm ordering Chinese! And I'm getting extra spring rolls because Michelle and I like them and you can't stop us!”

Gia slid her mouth away as she muttered into Michelle's lips, “Between you and Rocki,” she then caught Michelle's gaze, “I'm going to completely lose any semblance of power in this household, aren't I?”

Michelle reached out her arm, placing her new house key on top of one of the exposed stairs near them, before she scooped underneath Gia's butt, picked her up. The brunette giggled while she wrapped her legs around the blonde who proceeded to walk them to the measuring table; plunking her down on top of it. Michelle pulled her head back to look Gia in the eyes, once again, as she smirked at her coyly, “Hopefully not all your power.” She raked a finger through her hair, twisting a brown lock around her digit.

Gia stared at her unresponsively for a moment before she softly whispered, “I love you.”

Michelle's breath hitched in hearing those three words, for the first time, come out of Gia's mouth. She looked so gentle and vulnerable, and somehow, the most beautiful Michelle had ever seen her, sitting there in front of her. Michelle choked out in a small yet compelling voice, “I love you too,” needing Gia to know just how much she meant to her as well.

The corners of Gia's mouth curled up as she gently tugged Michelle back to her. Their lips slowly came together once again, sealing their love and commitment, ready to spend the rest of their lives together, under one roof, like the family they already were. Michelle was home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has read this fic and joined this tiny island fandom! I was so glad to not be alone here :) Hope you enjoyed your stay. Cheers!!


End file.
